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.

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life

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 is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be read more

Fiction is not a dream. nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.

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.

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

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

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.

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.