26 Quotes About Storytelling

I love storytelling. It moves people. Here are some quotes on storytelling that reveal it’s power and potentness:

“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.” -Madeleine L’Engle

“If you wish to influence an individual or a group to embrace a particular value in their daily lives, tell them a compelling story.” -Annette Simmons

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” -Phillip Pullman

“The shortest distance between a human being and the truth is a story.” -Anthony de Mello

“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” -Hannah Arendt

“We tell some of the best stories to ourselves. Scientists have discovered that the memories we use to form our own life stories are boldly fictionalized. And social psychologists point out that when we meet a friend, our conversation mostly consists of an exchange of gossipy stories. We ask our friend ‘What’s up?’ or ‘What’s new?’ and we begin to narrate our lives to one another, trading tales back and forth over cups of coffee or bottles of beer, unconsciously shaping and embellishing to make the tales hum. And every night, we reconvene with our loved ones at the dinner table to share the small comedies and tragedies of our day.” -Jonathan Gottschall

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” -Rudyard Kipling

“Novels and stories are renderings of life; they can not only keep us company, but admonish us, point us in new directions, or give us courage to stay a given course.” -Robert Coles

“I truly believe that people are looking for stories that really mean something–stories that are redemptive, inspiring, and bigger than an individual.” -Scott Harrison

“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.” -Joseph Campbell

“Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller.” -Donald Miller

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” -Lewis Carroll

“People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith–faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.” -Annette Simmons

“The story–from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace–is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” -Ursula K. Le Guin

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” -Brandon Sanderson

“It has been said that next to hunger and thirst, our most basic human need is for storytelling.” -Khalil Gibran

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. -Stephen King

“Today everyone, whether they know it or not, is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move people to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it.” -Peter Guber

“It is my opinion that a story worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then.” -C.S. Lewis

“Humans simply aren’t moved to action by ‘data dumps,’ dense PowerPoint slides, or spreadsheets packed with figures. People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect other people to our agenda begins with “Once upon a time…” -Jonathan Gottschall

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” -Joan Didion

“Modern storytellers are the descendants of an immense and ancient community of holy people, troubadours, bards, griots, cantadoras, cantors, traveling poets, bums, hags and crazy people.” -Clarissa Pinkola Estés

“Traveling–it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” -Ibn Battuta

“Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story’s persuasive effects. But over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.” -Jonathan Gottschall

“Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.” -Plato

“Think of story as a mnemonic device for complex ideas.” -Annette Simmons