John Tiffany Quotes

I am led to the proposition that there is no fiction or nonfiction as we commonly understand the distinction: there is only narrative.

I used to say to my bubbe, 'Bubbe, is this story true?' And she'd say, 'Of course it's true! But it may not have happened.' What my bubbe was saying is profound: All stories are true. The truth is the journey you take through it - did it make you laugh, cry, seek and want justice? Then it's true.

It's difficult to tell the truth about how a book begins. The truth, as far as it can be presented to other people, is either wholly banal or too intimate.

I love telling people's stories.

Creating is one thing; telling the story is one thing. I see myself more as a storyteller than a story creator.

There's a problem with narratives. Most that spring to mind are fictional.

I can't speak for readers in general, but personally I like to read stories behind which there is some truth, something real and above all, something emotional. I don't like to read essays on literature; I don't like to read critical or rational or impersonal or cold disquisitions on subjects.

Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends.

Naturally, the reader has access only to the events I show and the way I show them, but as has been said, there's generally a good deal of ambiguity in that presentation.

Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.

I love telling stories that allow people to be less afraid to tell theirs.

I think that even though some of the things on 'Humans of New York' are kind of very personal and very revealing, I think the discomfort with sharing that tends to be overwritten by the appreciation of being able to distill the experience of your life into a story and share it with other people.

I think it has most to do with the way in which a story is told, whether it feels real either via the music of the telling or the 'honesty' of the story.

People want real-life stories.

Personal narrative is one of the few things where people don't get caught up in fighting over esoteric rhetoric.

You can fake a lot of stuff, but you can't fake if the story isn't there and if the writing isn't good.

I always write from a personal place - whether it be about my friends or myself or a story that I heard.

I'm endlessly intrigued by stories, and I love helping someone to formulate his or her story. I can drift off when I'm reading pure abstraction, but the narratives of human lives hold my attention every time.

I just love to share my story with people as much as I can.

It's often said that everybody has a story to tell, and I suppose that's true, but the problem is that most of them aren't worth telling.

Storytelling is powerful; film particularly. We can know a lot of things intellectually, but humans really live on storytelling. Primarily with ourselves; we're all stories of our own narrative.

All my songs are things that have happened to me.

I make videos about people's stories in a way that is human.

I want to be a storyteller - not only of the Latin experience but of people who want to be inspired.

There are so many people that want to tell stories. I think that the issue is how hard it is to get your foot in the door to tell your stories.