Books Quote by Tayari Jones

The idea of a memoir is to tell the truth. I know that often the truth hurts, but a lie hurts even more.

— Rohan Marley

I think one can be more honest in fiction than in a memoir.

— Akhil Sharma

Writing a novel is easier than writing a memoir; you are not constrained by the truth.

— Steve Bisley

I think the act of lying can be separated from the genre of memoir. Though often times, people are unaware of their own subjectivity.

— Rob Roberge

Before I'm a writer, I'm definitely a reader and when I read memoir, I really want it to be true.

— Augusten Burroughs

Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.

— William Zinsser

In a memoir, your main contract with the reader is to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre.

— Edmund White

When you're writing a book that is going to be a narrative with characters and events, you're walking very close to fiction, since you're…

— Samuel Hynes

A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places.

— Emma Donoghue

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there…

— Anton Chekhov

I will say, with memoir, you must be honest. You must be truthful.

— Elie Wiesel

Unless your aim is to deceive, there's not a meaningful distinction between memoir and fiction. They're marketing categories.

— Emily Gould