--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Very young children love and demand…" description: "\"Very young children love and demand stories, and can understand complex matters presented as stories, when their powers of comprehending general concep..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/767/oliver-sacks-2132_children_very-young-children-love-and-demand-stor_2895584.jpg" --- # Very young children love and demand stories, and can… ![“Very young children love and demand stories, and can understand complex matters presented as stories, when their powers of comprehending general concepts, paradigms, are almost nonexistent.” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/767/oliver-sacks-2132_children_very-young-children-love-and-demand-stor_2895584.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/767/oliver-sacks-2132_children_very-young-children-love-and-demand-stor_2895584.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/767/oliver-sacks-2132_children_very-young-children-love-and-demand-stor_2895584.jpg) > “Very young children love and demand stories, and can understand complex matters presented as stories, when their powers of comprehending general concepts, paradigms, are almost nonexistent.” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Children need stories to grasp complex ideas because they lack abstract reasoning skills. **In simple terms:** Stories help kids understand complex ideas. Key Takeaway Use narratives to teach complex concepts. Themes education storytelling child development Mood educational thoughtful Type instructional inspirational When to use this quote - classrooms - parenting - media content creation Key Concepts Cognitive development learning theory Questions to Reflect On - How can stories be balanced with factual depth? - What stories best convey abstract ideas? A Different Perspective Stories may oversimplify nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Children 's books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children-s-books/) [Complexes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexes/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Paradigm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paradigm/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Young children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/young-children/) ## Related quotes > [My stories, I can understand them as a little toy that you wind up and you put it on the floor and it just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/my-stories-i-can-understand-them-as-a-little-toy-that-you-wind-up-and/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [“We, for our own part, simply call ourselves "we." "We" are the creature that tells itself stories to understand what sort of creature it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/we-for-our-own-part-simply-call-ourselves-we-we-are-the-creature-that/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [We need the skeletons of other stories to understand our own, sometimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-groff/we-need-the-skeletons-of-other-stories-to-understand-our-own-sometimes/) [Lauren Groff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-groff/) > [Now, the world is more than it seems to be. You know this, of course, because you read stories. You understand that there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/now-the-world-is-more-than-it-seems-to-be-you-know-this-of-course/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [So I decided to make a film about our need to tell stories, to own our stories, to understand them, and to have them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-polley/so-i-decided-to-make-a-film-about-our-need-to-tell-stories-to-own-our/) [Sarah Polley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-polley/) > [“It's time we started taking our audiences more seriously, and stop telling them stories they can understand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-barker/it-s-time-we-started-taking-our-audiences-more-seriously-and-stop/) [Howard Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-barker/) > [I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-understand-myself/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [We tell each other stories so we can understand the world better and there's catharsis and we understand the models of what a hero…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/we-tell-each-other-stories-so-we-can-understand-the-world-better-and/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [We are the only animals that tell stories to understand the world we live in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/we-are-the-only-animals-that-tell-stories-to-understand-the-world-we/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [There are, of course, inherent tendencies to repetition in music itself. Our poetry, our ballads, our songs are full of repetition; nursery rhymes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-are-of-course-inherent-tendencies-to-repetition-in-music-itself/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [ \[Albert Camus\] positions are sensed. So, naturally, those intellectuals who don't have that experience have difficulty in comprehending it. But I think it made… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-camus/albert-camus-positions-are-sensed-so-naturally-those-intellectuals/) [Catherine Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-camus/) > [The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/the-goodness-of-god-is-infinitely-more-wonderful-than-we-will-ever-be/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [And immediately Rather than words comes the thought of high windows: The sun-comprehending glass, And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows Nothing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/and-immediately-rather-than-words-comes-the-thought-of-high-windows/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [It's one thing for a person to live his life as a vacuous shell without fully comprehending the extent of his transgressions, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarek-saab/it-s-one-thing-for-a-person-to-live-his-life-as-a-vacuous-shell/) [Tarek Saab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarek-saab/) > [Science has to be understood in its broadest sense, as a method for apprehending all observable reality, and not merely as an instrument for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-carrel/science-has-to-be-understood-in-its-broadest-sense-as-a-method-for/) [Alexis Carrel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-carrel/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. It might be said that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-each-of-us-a-life-story-an-inner-narrative-whose-continuity/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-regard-music-therapy-as-a-tool-of-great-power-in-many-neurological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal, they address you. They accuse you. They seduce you. They humiliate you. They jeer at you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/psychotic-hallucinations-whether-they-are-visual-or-vocal-they/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/much-more-of-the-brain-is-devoted-to-movement-than-to-language/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [About 10 percent of the hearing impaired get musical hallucinations, and about 10 percent of the visually impaired get visual hallucinations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/about-10-percent-of-the-hearing-impaired-get-musical-hallucinations/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [The rhythm of music is very, very important for people with Parkinson's. But it's also very important with other sorts of patients, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-rhythm-of-music-is-very-very-important-for-people-with-parkinson/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) [Explore all 177 Oliver Sacks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## More Children quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [Behind every successful child is an adult who believed in him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/behind-every-successful-child-is-an-adult-who-believed-in-him/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [I believe in freedom to do what you want if you aren't hurting others, but pictures of obese protesters giving their children big gulps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-defranco/i-believe-in-freedom-to-do-what-you-want-if-you-aren-t-hurting-others/) [Philip DeFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-defranco/) > [If the audience likes your work, if they like you, they don't think whether you are married or have children or not. 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Expressing gratitude by writing in a journal, taking a photo, or shooting a video creates a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janice-kaplan/gratitude-isn-t-just-a-feeling-it-s-an-action-expressing-gratitude-by/) [Janice Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janice-kaplan/) > [My embarrassing confession is that my father is a 'Camelot: The Musical' obsessive. So as a child, when we were going to visit relatives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-chibnall/my-embarrassing-confession-is-that-my-father-is-a-camelot-the-musical/) [Chris Chibnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-chibnall/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [My school was one of the most beautiful places a child can grow up in. 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