--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If people cannot be flawed in fiction…" description: "\"If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.\" — Roxane Gay" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png" --- # If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place… ![“If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.” quote by Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png) > “If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.” [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fiction must include flawed characters; otherwise humanity is excluded. **In simple terms:** Fiction needs flawed characters; otherwise humanity is excluded. Key Takeaway Include imperfection to reflect true humanity. Themes humanity flaws fiction representation Mood thoughtful empathetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - novels - screenplays - TV series - character studies Key Concepts character development literary theory Questions to Reflect On - What balance of flaw and virtue makes characters relatable? - How does imperfection enhance storytelling? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on flaws can alienate audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-place-417600/) [Flawed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flawed/) [Flawed Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flawed-fiction-1797628/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [People Flawed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-flawed-1046850/) ## Related quotes > [Fiction is a place where people can meet, where they take the time to very seriously examine and think about the experiences of other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-klay/fiction-is-a-place-where-people-can-meet-where-they-take-the-time-to/) [Phil Klay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-klay/) > [Relationships are not tailor-made and people are flawed. You have to work around that and love the other person anyway. Our flaws are what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-crownover/relationships-are-not-tailor-made-and-people-are-flawed-you-have-to-2/) [Jay Crownover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-crownover/) > [It's fun to play people who are flawed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-garrett/it-s-fun-to-play-people-who-are-flawed/) [Brad Garrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-garrett/) > [“But my mother would tell me that people are flawed and I should be lenient with them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/but-my-mother-would-tell-me-that-people-are-flawed-and-i-should-be/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Aren't all people flawed?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-esmail/aren-t-all-people-flawed/) [Sam Esmail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-esmail/) > [I think we love watching people that are flawed because we're all flawed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-garrett/i-think-we-love-watching-people-that-are-flawed-because-we-re-all/) [Brad Garrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-garrett/) > [I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that non-fiction can't ever get at.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-understand-those-things-that-are/) [Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/) > [“Fiction should be a place of lollipops and escape. Real life is depressing enough--I, for one, don't want to read about make believe misery,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-christie/fiction-should-be-a-place-of-lollipops-and-escape-real-life-is/) [Nicole Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-christie/) > [One of the things that we do is we elevate people. We put them on pedestals, and people are flawed. No one is perfect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karine-jean-pierre/one-of-the-things-that-we-do-is-we-elevate-people-we-put-them-on/) [Karine Jean-Pierre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karine-jean-pierre/) > [I used to think I saw life in blacks or whites, turns out I was more grey. It is extremely liberating to care for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shweta-bachchan-nanda/i-used-to-think-i-saw-life-in-blacks-or-whites-turns-out-i-was-more/) [Shweta Bachchan Nanda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shweta-bachchan-nanda/) > [“Relationships are not tailor-made and people are flawed. You have to work around that and love the other person anyway. Our flaws are what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-crownover/relationships-are-not-tailor-made-and-people-are-flawed-you-have-to/) [Jay Crownover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-crownover/) > [“We must all accept responsibility for our actions, else the world becomes unlivable. Yet it would be a tremendous social advance if we made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/we-must-all-accept-responsibility-for-our-actions-else-the-world/) [Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/) > [I'm making movies about people as flawed as myself and the viewers. So if you just have a reptilian brain and live your life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobcat-goldthwait/i-m-making-movies-about-people-as-flawed-as-myself-and-the-viewers-so/) [Bobcat Goldthwait](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobcat-goldthwait/) > [I think those are the kind of characters I like to play, people who are flawed and human because we all are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-missick/i-think-those-are-the-kind-of-characters-i-like-to-play-people-who/) [Simone Missick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-missick/) > [People are flawed. I like peaking into their flaws. The way to humanize them is not to play them in any general way, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainn-wilson/people-are-flawed-i-like-peaking-into-their-flaws-the-way-to-humanize/) [Rainn Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainn-wilson/) ## More by Roxane Gay > [“Human endurance fascinates me, probably too much because more often than not, I think of life in terms of enduring instead of living.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/human-endurance-fascinates-me-probably-too-much-because-more-often/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“Being useful was a balm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/being-useful-was-a-balm/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [No woman or man is any one thing and the men in my stories, well, some of them are good and some of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/no-woman-or-man-is-any-one-thing-and-the-men-in-my-stories-well-some/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“I was a daydreamer and I resented being pulled out of my daydreams to deal with the business of living.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/i-was-a-daydreamer-and-i-resented-being-pulled-out-of-my-daydreams-to/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [Feminism is, I hope, a way to a better future for everyone who inhabits this world. Feminism should not be something that needs a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/feminism-is-i-hope-a-way-to-a-better-future-for-everyone-who-inhabits/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [Fiction offers escape but it also interrogates the world we live in, whether the past, present or future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/fiction-offers-escape-but-it-also-interrogates-the-world-we-live-in/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“I've noticed while cooking, how ingredients in their individual and naked state and be a bit repulsive but necessary, kind of like people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/i-ve-noticed-while-cooking-how-ingredients-in-their-individual-and/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“I shouted, “This is not right,” knowing my words were useless. There’s no room for such distinctions in a country where too many people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/i-shouted-this-is-not-right-knowing-my-words-were-useless-there-s-no/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [Most of my favorite tweets go completely ignored but most of my favorite tweets are probably really lame or inside jokes between me and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/most-of-my-favorite-tweets-go-completely-ignored-but-most-of-my/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“What about other women of color? For Hispanic and Latina women, Indian women, Middle Eastern women, Asian women, their absence in popular culture is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/what-about-other-women-of-color-for-hispanic-and-latina-women-indian/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [There has been, and there will continue to be, vigorous discussions about race in America. I worry that little will come of these discussions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/there-has-been-and-there-will-continue-to-be-vigorous-discussions/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [Writing, at its best and truest, can offer solace and salvation for both readers and writers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/writing-at-its-best-and-truest-can-offer-solace-and-salvation-for/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“I knew I was in love with The Hunger Games when I did not want to get off the treadmill”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/i-knew-i-was-in-love-with-the-hunger-games-when-i-did-not-want-to-get/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“Just because you survive something does not mean you are strong.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/just-because-you-survive-something-does-not-mean-you-are-strong/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“Celebrities understand the economy of thinness, and most of them are willing to participate in that economy, taking to social media, where they pose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/celebrities-understand-the-economy-of-thinness-and-most-of-them-are/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) [Explore all 503 Roxane Gay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) ## More Fiction quotes > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) [Phil Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-hogan/) > [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-thing-about-science-fiction-is-that-it-s-totally-wide-open-but-it/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [I do think that theater is a great venue for science fiction, and not just adaptations but also original work. I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/) [Edward Einhorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-einhorn/) > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) [Coheed and Cambria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coheed-and-cambria/) > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/) [L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/) > [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. 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It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Roxane Gay" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-there-s-no-place-left-for-us-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-there-s-no-place-left-for-us-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/385/roxane-gay-520_fiction_if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-th_963474.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.” — Roxane Gay", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Roxane Gay", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If people cannot be flawed in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-there-s-no-place-left-for-us-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-there-s-no-place-left-for-us-to/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```