A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

A film is -- or should be -- more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of read more

A film is -- or should be -- more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free read more

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns.

The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns.

Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he read more

Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study read more

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

A play is fiction and fiction is fact distilled into truth.

A play is fiction and fiction is fact distilled into truth.