1,265 Quotes About Storytelling

They add up, the tiny harmless things we harbor, the little guilts and baby sins, the crimes we think we only commit against ourselves. The indignities we suffer. The stories we tell ourselves about how wicked we are. Or how helpless. They can crush cities, raise seas.

I think the secret of memoirs is keeping those parts of yourself off the page, which makes what you do share more valuable.

Remember, how you choose to see yourself, your surroundings, and your situation is something you have agency over. You don’t have to accept a story as gospel or dogma.

A gifted storyteller should be able to tell their stories in different genres, mediums, and platforms. The art of storytelling is the same since civilization began. Only the way of telling it has changed because of technology. - Kailin Gow on Storytelling

We don't turn to story to escape reality. We turn to story to navigate reality.

The universal story is composed of segments of anxiety, disappointment, profanity, prayers, heartache, tragedy, and despair.

Usually, but not always, a story is told mostly for the benefit of the teller. The story (...) demonstrates how the teller has lived a life full of adventure, of meaning; that they're comical, self-deprecating, and brave; that they're ultimately a person worth knowing.It's as though folks need to remind themselves of their own worth, and they do this by telling and retelling their favourite eleven or twelve stories, the anecdotes that fundamentally define who they are.

The audience can endorse the triviality of modern art, but they can’t like it.

Without language we have no past, the present is unquantifiable, and we lack a means to recognize and express the paradoxical future challenges of humanity. In absence of a shared language, we cannot understand prior generation’s conflicts, desires, and achievements, nor can we communicate with future generations our essential values and the wisdom we garner through undergoing our own socioeconomic crises