“This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.” HumansCharacterMightCertainLiteratureExistenceFictionDoubtFolksFairyImaginaryCastingFaerieUnwise Author:Neil Gaiman
“It is worth repeating that powerful imagination is not false outward vision, but intense inward representation, and a creative energy constantly fed by susceptibility to the veriest minutiæ of experience, which it reproduces and constructs in fresh and fresh wholes; not the habitual confusion of provable fact with the fictions of fancy and transient inclination, but a breadth of ideal association which informs every material object, every incidental fact with far-reaching memories and storied residues of passion, bringing into new light the less obvious relations to human existence.” HumansFactsLightPassionEnergyImaginationMemoriesPowerfulExistenceFictionVisionCreativeObjectsMaterialsIdealsRelationObviousIntenseConfusionFancyReachingFedsAssociationInwardRepresentationConstructsInclinationHuman ExistenceHabitualTransientBreadthCreative EnergySusceptibility Author:George Eliot
“Here is one of the fundamental defects of American fiction--perhaps the one character that sets it off sharply from all other known kinds of contemporary fiction. It habitually exhibits, not a man of delicate organization in revolt against the inexplicable tragedy of existence, but a man of low sensibilities and elemental desires yielding himself gladly to his environment, and so achieving what, under a third-rate civilization, passes for success. To get on: this is the aim. To weigh and reflect, to doubt and rebel: this is the thing to be avoided.” MenKindCharacterDesireLiteratureExistenceFictionKnownDoubtEnvironmentAchieveCivilizationLowsOrganizationThirdsTragedyAimFundamentalsRateContemporaryRebelDelicateSensibilityDefectsAvoidedRevoltExhibitsInexplicableContemporary FictionElementalsAmerican Literature Book:H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series Source: H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series
“I think human beings exist in a social world. I write realistic fiction, and so it isn't that surprising that the social realities of their existence would be part of the story.” ThinkingWorldWritingHumansStoriesRealityWould BeSocialHuman BeingsExistenceFictionRealisticSurprisingRealistic Fiction Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Corollary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere.” ExistenceFictionScience FictionQuantityImmenseTrashUnnatural Author:Theodore Sturgeon
“Do you think it interests me that this painting represents two figures? These two figures existed, they exist no more. The sight of them gave me an initial emotion, little by little their real presence grew indistinct they became a fiction for me, then they disappeared, or rather, were turned into problems of all kinds. For me they are no longer two figures but shapes and colours, don't misunderstand me, shapes and colours, though, that sum up the idea of the two figures and preserve the vibration of their existence.” ThinkingKindLittlesTwoIdeasRealProblemInterestEmotionExistenceFictionFiguresPaintingGrewShapesSightAll KindsPreservesColourInitialsVibrations Author:Pablo Picasso
“I've got things I have to do in fiction to sort of register my existence, before I kick the bucket, but it will never be my living and I know it. Plus it never moved fast enough for me and lacked cut and thrust. I need to be in the real show.” KnowsNeedsRealEnoughShowsExistenceFictionCuttingMovedKicksPlusThrustRegisterBuckets Author:William Monahan
“Men do not live by truth alone; they also need lies: those that they invent freely, not those that are imposed on them; those that appear as they are, not smuggled in beneath the clothes of history. Fiction enriches their existence, completes them and, fleetingly, compensates them for this tragic condition which is our lot: always to desire and dream more than we can actually achieve.” MenNeedsDreamLyingDesireExistenceFictionAchieveConditionsClothesTragicLive By Book:Making Waves: Essays Source: Making Waves: Essays
“Writing grew out of the pleasure of escape. My novels are very much outside of my personal experience. That is why I love writing fiction. It allows me to leave my existence and inhabit other lives.” WritingPleasureExistenceFictionNovelGrewPersonal ExperiencesWriting Fiction Author:Danielle Trussoni