--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We are unreliable narrators - all of us." description: "\"We are unreliable narrators - all of us.\" — Ruth Ware" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png" --- # We are unreliable narrators - all of us. ![“We are unreliable narrators - all of us.” quote by Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png) > “We are unreliable narrators - all of us.” [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Everyone tells stories that are incomplete or biased; we cannot fully trust our own narratives. **In simple terms:** We are all unreliable narrators. Key Takeaway Question your assumptions. Themes perception truth subjectivity Mood thoughtful introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading - writing - personal journaling Key Concepts narrative bias self‑awareness Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify your story? - What biases shape your view? A Different Perspective May lead to excessive skepticism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Narrators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrators/) [Unreliable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unreliable/) [Unreliable Narrators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unreliable-narrators-1535410/) [Us](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/us/) ## Related quotes > [I write unreliable narrators because - paradoxically - they're the most honest, true-to-life kind there is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/i-write-unreliable-narrators-because-paradoxically-they-re-the-most/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [Ezra clapped his hands. "all right," he said. "In addition to the books we're reading as a class, I want to do an extra…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-shepard/ezra-clapped-his-hands-all-right-he-said-in-addition-to-the-books-we/) [Sara Shepard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-shepard/) > [“The underlying and more ominous question is whether the story of our species — the greater human narrative — has simply become too enormous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-almond/the-underlying-and-more-ominous-question-is-whether-the-story-of-our/) [Steve Almond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-almond/) > [I have often said I come from a family of unreliable narrators. I tend to believe their struggles with racism, identity, nationality do dovetail…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-alberto-urrea/i-have-often-said-i-come-from-a-family-of-unreliable-narrators-i-tend/) [Luis Alberto Urrea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-alberto-urrea/) > [The unreliable narrator is an odd concept. The way I see it, we're all unreliable narrators of our lives who usually have absolute trust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-pinborough/the-unreliable-narrator-is-an-odd-concept-the-way-i-see-it-we-re-all/) [Sarah Pinborough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-pinborough/) > [I think every narrator is an unreliable narrator. In its classic definition - an unreliable narrator is one who reveals something they don't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-roberge/i-think-every-narrator-is-an-unreliable-narrator-in-its-classic/) [Rob Roberge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-roberge/) > [I just respect audiences to understand that that's what goes on in movies. I just try to make movies that respect the intelligence of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-maddin/i-just-respect-audiences-to-understand-that-that-s-what-goes-on-in/) [Guy Maddin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-maddin/) > [I very much like the idea of the unreliable narrator. Shaping my fictions as monologues - by introducing the "I" - allows me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-lock/i-very-much-like-the-idea-of-the-unreliable-narrator-shaping-my/) [Norman Lock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-lock/) > [These types of films that are psychologically sort of dark at times, I find extremely exciting to do because there's always something to think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-dicaprio/these-types-of-films-that-are-psychologically-sort-of-dark-at-times-i/) [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-dicaprio/) > [I think every first-person narrator in a novel should be compromised. I prefer that word to 'unreliable.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-palliser/i-think-every-first-person-narrator-in-a-novel-should-be-compromised/) [Charles Palliser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-palliser/) > [I have no policy, for or against: only a personal style. Which is to say, I use them when I think it's appropriate to;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stross/i-have-no-policy-for-or-against-only-a-personal-style-which-is-to-say/) [Charles Stross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stross/) > [Everyone is interesting except the narrator in a first-person story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kennedy/everyone-is-interesting-except-the-narrator-in-a-first-person-story/) [William Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kennedy/) > [September could see it. She did not know what is was she saw. That is the disadvantage of being a heroine, rather than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/september-could-see-it-she-did-not-know-what-is-was-she-saw-that-is/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [Once I got interested in organized crime, and, specifically, Jewish organized crime, I got very interested in it. I have learned that, like my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-lazar/once-i-got-interested-in-organized-crime-and-specifically-jewish/) [Zachary Lazar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-lazar/) > [I am interested in levels of brain discourse. How articulate are the voices in your head? You know, there's a different voice for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-am-interested-in-levels-of-brain-discourse-how-articulate-are-the/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) ## More by Ruth Ware > [I'm not 100% sure 'Rebecca' qualifies as a thriller, given it's three parts screwed-up love story and two parts ghost-story-without-a-ghost, but the mystery at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/i-m-not-100-sure-rebecca-qualifies-as-a-thriller-given-it-s-three/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“Airports say work and security checks and delays. Ports say... I don’t know. Something completely different. Escape, maybe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/airports-say-work-and-security-checks-and-delays-ports-say-i-don-t/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [As a reader, I read quite widely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/as-a-reader-i-read-quite-widely/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“I dwelled heavily on the image of me chipping away at the lock with a nail file and didn’t tell her about the gloves,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/i-dwelled-heavily-on-the-image-of-me-chipping-away-at-the-lock-with-a/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [We are all at the center of our own narrative, but it's a narrative that changes every time we retell it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/we-are-all-at-the-center-of-our-own-narrative-but-it-s-a-narrative/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“That’s the trouble with having a “click” as Mary Wren might call it. When you define yourself by walls, who’s in, who’s out. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/that-s-the-trouble-with-having-a-click-as-mary-wren-might-call-it/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“There is no gray when you’re young. There’s only goodies and baddies, right and wrong. The rules are very clear—a playground morality of ethical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/there-is-no-gray-when-you-re-young-there-s-only-goodies-and-baddies/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“I am running. I am running through moonlit woods, with branches ripping at my clothes and my feet catching in the snow-bowed bracken.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/i-am-running-i-am-running-through-moonlit-woods-with-branches-ripping/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“It’s not that Nina doesn’t feel stuff. She just deals with it differently than most people. Sarcasm is her defense against life. “Let’s”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/it-s-not-that-nina-doesn-t-feel-stuff-she-just-deals-with-it/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [Seeing my book on a billboard in New York was a bucket-list-type thing, but also a deeply surreal moment. I had to keep reminding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/seeing-my-book-on-a-billboard-in-new-york-was-a-bucket-list-type/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [I write as if I'm someone reading the book - often people ask if I write one strand first and then go back and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/i-write-as-if-i-m-someone-reading-the-book-often-people-ask-if-i/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [One of my desert island books, 'The Leopard' is not so much a novel as a eulogy for a way of life and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/one-of-my-desert-island-books-the-leopard-is-not-so-much-a-novel-as-a/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [If I'm writing a furiously angry scene, I have to consciously snap out of it when I shut down the computer, or I find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/if-i-m-writing-a-furiously-angry-scene-i-have-to-consciously-snap-out/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“But I did feel violated. My little flat felt ruined–soiled and unsafe. Even describing it to the police had felt like an ordeal…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/but-i-did-feel-violated-my-little-flat-felt-ruined-soiled-and-unsafe/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) > [“there was genuine pity in her face, but also a kind of glee, the sort you see sometimes when teens are interviewed about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/there-was-genuine-pity-in-her-face-but-also-a-kind-of-glee-the-sort/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) [Explore all 32 Ruth Ware quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) ## More Narrators quotes > [I am interested in levels of brain discourse. How articulate are the voices in your head? You know, there's a different voice for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-am-interested-in-levels-of-brain-discourse-how-articulate-are-the/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [I have no policy, for or against: only a personal style. Which is to say, I use them when I think it's appropriate to;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stross/i-have-no-policy-for-or-against-only-a-personal-style-which-is-to-say/) [Charles Stross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stross/) > [September could see it. She did not know what is was she saw. That is the disadvantage of being a heroine, rather than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/september-could-see-it-she-did-not-know-what-is-was-she-saw-that-is/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I very much like the idea of the unreliable narrator. Shaping my fictions as monologues - by introducing the "I" - allows me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-lock/i-very-much-like-the-idea-of-the-unreliable-narrator-shaping-my/) [Norman Lock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-lock/) > [Once I got interested in organized crime, and, specifically, Jewish organized crime, I got very interested in it. I have learned that, like my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-lazar/once-i-got-interested-in-organized-crime-and-specifically-jewish/) [Zachary Lazar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-lazar/) > [Everyone is interesting except the narrator in a first-person story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kennedy/everyone-is-interesting-except-the-narrator-in-a-first-person-story/) [William Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kennedy/) > [Narrator: You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/narrator-you-had-to-give-it-to-him-he-had-a-plan-and-it-started-to/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [A narrator should not supply interpretations of his work; otherwise he would have not written a novel, which is a machine for generating interpretations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/a-narrator-should-not-supply-interpretations-of-his-work-otherwise-he/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [If you have a single narrator, a person like an "I" - "'I' did this" and "'I' did that" - it automatically solves the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truman-capote/if-you-have-a-single-narrator-a-person-like-an-i-i-did-this-and-i-did/) [Truman Capote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truman-capote/) > [The ‘I’ character in journalism is almost pure invention. Unlike the ‘I’ of autobiography, who is meant to be seen as a representation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-malcolm/the-i-character-in-journalism-is-almost-pure-invention-unlike-the-i/) [Janet Malcolm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-malcolm/) > [In Gilead, the narrator's friend's son describes himself not as an atheist but in "state of categorical unbelief." He says, "I don't even believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-schwalbe/in-gilead-the-narrator-s-friend-s-son-describes-himself-not-as-an/) [Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-schwalbe/) > [Every Day Is for the Thief is a vivid, episodic evocation of the truism that you can't go home again; but that doesn't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/every-day-is-for-the-thief-is-a-vivid-episodic-evocation-of-the/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [In the end, history, especially British history with its succession of thrilling illuminations, should be, as all her most accomplished narrators have promised, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/in-the-end-history-especially-british-history-with-its-succession-of/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The text moves like a small crustacean with compound eye and complex nervous system; throbbing, involuted, it becomes a parasite on a different body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-brossard/the-text-moves-like-a-small-crustacean-with-compound-eye-and-complex/) [Nicole Brossard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-brossard/) > [Time passes, as the novelist says. The single most useful trick of fiction for our repair and refreshment: the defeat of time. A century…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-powers/time-passes-as-the-novelist-says-the-single-most-useful-trick-of/) [Richard Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-powers/) [Browse all 131 Narrators quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrators/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are unreliable narrators - all of us.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ruth Ware" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Narrators" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/ruth-ware-19683_unreliable_we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us-18_1870657.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are unreliable narrators - all of us.” — Ruth Ware", "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": "Ruth Ware", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We are unreliable narrators - all...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/we-are-unreliable-narrators-all-of-us/#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 } } ] } ```