Stories Quotes - Page 86

I asked God to help me understand the story of the forest and what it means to be a tree in that story.

A story so cherished it has to be dressed in casualness to disguise its significance in case the listener turned out to be unsympathetic.

Sometimes I can't get out of the character because the story is very intense.

It's important for us to tell our stories.

Other than that one year, Salon has been very cautious about the way it spends money. For instance, since last year, we've had virtually no marketing budget. It's just word of mouth. And our circulation continues to grow that way by breaking news stories.

To me, a story can be both concrete and abstract, or a concrete story can hold abstractions. And abstractions are things that really can't be said so well with words.

I've taught both screenwriting and playwriting, and playwriting is both much harder and much more rewarding. One can teach people how to tell a story in cinematic ways, but theater is a much more elusive craft.

I have an unconscious burglar living in my mind: If I read something, it's mine. I can read Middle English stories, Geoffrey Chaucer or Sir Thomas Malory, but once I start moving in the direction of contemporary fantasy, my mind begins to take over.

I got to watch Frank Capra, in his eighties, in action. You read all the stories about Frank Capra fighting with the head of Columbia, Harry Cohn, "It's my way or the highway." I got to watch that. He lambasted me, "You cannot do this. You will fail." Finally, after another hour of conversation, I convinced him to help me write the speech.

The calculus is the story this [the Western] world first told itself as it became the modern world.

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part of what I'm doing. I don't give a damn if half the audience walks out.

So the story goes, so I'm told The people he knew were Less than golden hearted Gamblers and robbers Drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers Like you and me

Broken stories can be healed. Diseased stories can be replaced by healthy ones. We are free to change the stories by which we live.

The ability to see our lives as stories rather than unrelated, random events increases the possibility for significant and purposeful action.

Cops never took anything on faith, and disbelieved every story that was told them on principle until and unless they could confirm that the story was fact in all its essentials, and even then remained wary and unconvinced. Cop shops bred skeptics. Skeptics cherished few illusions about human nature, and therefore were seldom disappointed.

I make no distinction between writing and storytelling; I've always wanted to tell stories.

A person’s life story is equal to what they have plus what they want most in the world, minus what they’re actually willing to sacrifice for it.

Stories are the best democracy we have. We are allowed to become the other we never dreamed we could be.

I ask myself: is every story that has ever been written in this world, a story of suffering and affliction?

Remember: a story is not a vignette. It has a beginning, middle and an end. It is not merely a snapshot in time.

You can watch any episode you want and have a compelling story being told.

Remember, we know the end of the story of World War II and the Cold War. But day by day, living in fear of the Nazis and then in fear of the Soviets, the outcome was by no means certain.

(The movie) is the story of my life, but it's not about me. It's about anybody who ever dreamed big and had someone tell them, 'No, you can't do it.' You can.

How [stories] are told, who tells them, when they’re told, how many stories are told — are really dependent on power.

Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves.