Anne Lamott Quotes

Art is a lie that makes us realise truth ... that is given us to understand.

A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way.

[Literature is] a process of producing grand, beautiful, well-ordered lies that tell more truth than any assemblage of facts.

We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.

I feel often very close to the ecstasy and anguish which lie at the very heart of poetry - I am writing a lot.

Art is not truth; art is the lie which makes us see the truth.

My great longing is to make those very incorrectnesses, those deviations, remodellings, changes in reality, so that they may become, yes, lies if you like - but truer than the literal truth.

Whenever a great painter... does a work which appears to be false and lying, that falsity is very true.

There can be no literary equivalent to truth.

What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.

While I recognize the necessity for a basis of observed reality... true art lies in a reality that is felt.

All writing is the same: It's just making up lies until it starts to sound like the truth. That's what I do.

I think that's always the hope - I mean, I can't speak for others, but I think other artists, no matter what type of medium they are using - whether it be from painting to acting to dancing, songwriting, or anything like that - I believe the desire is to get to the truth, and I think it's really hard to tell the truth.

An artist worthy of the name should express all the truth of nature, not only the exterior truth, but also, and above all, the inner truth.

The scholar seeks truth, the artist finds.

Nothing factual that I write or say will be as truthful as my fiction.

The fundamental purpose of the artist is the same as that of a scientist: to state a fact.

The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.

The aim of art is a constant, and a continuous job to reveal visually the attitude of our mentality. And the less we disturb the influence of our mentality the more I believe we come close to the truth.

That is the mystery about writing: it comes out of afflictions, out of the gouged times, when the heart is cut open.

The arts often realize human truths well before other branches of human endeavor.

Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth.

There's a powerful magic about being a writer that I still marvel at.

Art has absolutely no existence as veracity, as truth.

Writing is my shelter. I don't hide behind the words; I use them to dig inside my heart to find the truth.