Charles de Lint Quotes

One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life.

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

History is a fiction which actually happened; fiction is history which could have happened.

What is the difference between the novelist and the liar? At some moments, I have often wondered.

I certainly don't believe you documentary filmmakers. Like me, you are involved in making fiction, and your fiction is just as well organized and just as well predicated, but the big difference between me and you is that I'm honest and you're dishonest. I know I'm telling you lies.

Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all.

Novels are fictions and therefore they tell lies, but through those lies every novelist attempts to tell the truth about the world.

All stories are true,” Skarpi said. “But this one really happened, if that’s what you mean.” He took another slow drink, then smiled again, his bright eyes dancing. “More or less. You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.

Falsehood is a critical element in fiction. Part of the thrill of being told a story is the chance of being hoodwinked. . .The telling of lies is a sort of sleight of hand that displays our deepest feelings about life.

The truth of history crowds out the truth of fiction - as if one were obliged to choose between them.

Lies are just stories, and stories are all that matter. We all tell stories. Some are more truthful than others, maybe, but in the end the only thing that counts is what you can make people believe.

All fiction is lies – if it weren’t, it would be biography, history, or reportage.

In the end, fiction is the craft of telling truth through lies.

I would never lie to anyone about history.

Poetry lies its way to the truth.

Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

Novel-writing is a bit like deception. You lie as little as you possibly can. That's the way I do it, anyway.

I love to invent - avoiding the truth. I need to dramatize.

The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell.

Oh, mercy, I think we're all storytellers, you know. You think of the excuses you told your parents for why you got home late. I just never gave it up.

Journalism allows its readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it.

Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.

It's no sin to tell a good story.

I think fiction recues history from its confusions.

Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.