Ability Quote by Zia Haider Rahman
“By delivering experience, novels can alter the stance we adopt toward news - not much, I'm sure, but they can make it a little more difficult for us to consign "other people" to our tidy boxes. Widening our imaginative life might - it's not hard to imagine - also develop our ability to contemplate counterfactuals and our capacity to speculate about how things might differ from how they're being represented.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Novel and Its Impact on Perception, 2020
Stories expand empathy and imagination, making it harder to stereotype and easier to envision alternatives to current narratives.
In simple terms: Novels broaden empathy and imagination.
Key Takeaway
Read fiction to challenge biases.
Themes
empathy
imagination
stereotypes
counterfactual thinking
Mood
thoughtful
inquisitive
Type
reflective
inspirational
When to use this quote
- education
- journalism
- policy making
- personal growth
Key Concepts
narrative empathy
social cognition
Questions to Reflect On
- How can reading diverse novels reshape your view of others?
- What counterfactuals have you imagined after a story?
A Different Perspective
Fiction may not change entrenched beliefs quickly.
![“[My works are] an imitation of my own past and present and of my own creative vitality as I experience them in one particular instant of my emotional and imaginative life. . .” quote by Barbara Hepworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/25d/barbara-hepworth-24891_creative_my-works-are-an-imitation-of-my-own-past_1066060.jpg)
