--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To think that realistic fiction is by…" description: "\"To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction is to think imitation is superior to invention.\" — Ursula K. Le Guin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e87/ursula-k-le-guin-138_creativity_to-think-that-realistic-fiction-is-by-de_2014575.jpg" --- # To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior… ![“To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction is to think imitation is superior to invention.” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e87/ursula-k-le-guin-138_creativity_to-think-that-realistic-fiction-is-by-de_2014575.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e87/ursula-k-le-guin-138_creativity_to-think-that-realistic-fiction-is-by-de_2014575.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e87/ursula-k-le-guin-138_creativity_to-think-that-realistic-fiction-is-by-de_2014575.jpg) > “To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction is to think imitation is superior to invention.” [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagining realism as superior to imagination stifles creativity; invention beats imitation. **In simple terms:** Imagination beats realism. Key Takeaway Value creative invention over mere realism. Themes creativity literature innovation Mood inquisitive inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - education - media criticism Key Concepts philosophy art imagination Questions to Reflect On - Why privilege realism? - How does imagination drive progress? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Definitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/definitions/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Definition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-definition-2425504/) [Fiction Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-think-411914/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Imaginative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative/) [Imaginative Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginative-fiction-2323220/) [Imitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imitation/) [Invention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invention/) [Realistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realistic/) [Realistic fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realistic-fiction/) [Superior Imaginative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superior-imaginative-3616019/) [Superiors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superiors/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-the-spirit-of-the-age-to-believe-that-any-fact-no-matter-how/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-wouk/income-tax-returns-are-the-most-imaginative-fiction-being-written/) [Herman Wouk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-wouk/) > [I always knew I wanted to write really imaginative fiction - fiction that was very different from my real life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-trussoni/i-always-knew-i-wanted-to-write-really-imaginative-fiction-fiction/) [Danielle Trussoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-trussoni/) > [There are very few people who are creative and imaginative. Therefore, fiction is difficult for people to embrace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/there-are-very-few-people-who-are-creative-and-imaginative-therefore/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [“Speculative fiction by definition is geared toward an audience that wants strangeness, an audience that wants to spend time in worlds that absolutely are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/speculative-fiction-by-definition-is-geared-toward-an-audience-that/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-use-of-imaginative-fiction-is-to-deepen-your-understanding-of/) [Ursula K. 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Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard/) > [I have for a long time loved fabulist, imaginative fiction, such as the writing of Italo Calvino, Jose Saramago, Michael Bulgakov, and Salman Rushdie.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/i-have-for-a-long-time-loved-fabulist-imaginative-fiction-such-as-the/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-wouk/the-only-imaginative-fiction-being-written-today-is-income-tax-returns/) [Herman Wouk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-wouk/) > [Fantasy is a literature particularly useful for embodying and examining the real difference between good and evil. In an America where our reality may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/fantasy-is-a-literature-particularly-useful-for-embodying-and/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [We range widely, we readers of fiction, but I think we all need a home. Mine is science fiction. It's my home shelf, my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sloan/we-range-widely-we-readers-of-fiction-but-i-think-we-all-need-a-home/) [Robin Sloan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sloan/) > [I've always loved science fiction. I think the smartest writers are science fiction writers dealing with major things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-mosley/i-ve-always-loved-science-fiction-i-think-the-smartest-writers-are/) [Walter Mosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-mosley/) > [There are certain kinds of people who write science fiction. I think a lot of us married late. A lot of us are mama's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/there-are-certain-kinds-of-people-who-write-science-fiction-i-think-a/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/science-fiction-is-a-weird-category-because-it-s-the-only-area-of/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) ## More by Ursula K. Le Guin > [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## More Creativity quotes > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“The Soviet “creative intelligentsia” - that is, people accustomed to thinking one thing, saying another and doing a third - is as a whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-amalrik/the-soviet-creative-intelligentsia-that-is-people-accustomed-to/) [Andrei Amalrik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-amalrik/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [You don't get lucky. You create lucky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sharma/you-don-t-get-lucky-you-create-lucky/) [Robin Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sharma/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“You are the end of beauty and creativity one must have created so far.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/you-are-the-end-of-beauty-and-creativity-one-must-have-created-so-far/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“I believe in magic. As a writer, I create them on blank paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonnia-kemmer/i-believe-in-magic-as-a-writer-i-create-them-on-blank-paper/) [Sonnia Kemmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonnia-kemmer/) > [Creativity is like chasing chickens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-niemann/creativity-is-like-chasing-chickens/) [Christoph Niemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-niemann/) > [It is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/it-is-proposed-that-a-form-of-free-dialogue-may-well-be-one-of-the/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [You always hear actors say, 'Theater is my first love,' and it is. It's a time when you really get to do what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-landecker/you-always-hear-actors-say-theater-is-my-first-love-and-it-is-it-s-a/) [Amy Landecker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-landecker/) > [Create an environment for people to fail, to learn, and to grow. Their creativity and productivity will increase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/create-an-environment-for-people-to-fail-to-learn-and-to-grow-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 13,625 Creativity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction is to think imitation is superior to invention.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ursula K. 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