There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

I love story songs because I've always loved books.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.

Your life story would not make a good book. Don't even try.

No, it's not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.

Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of the critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.

When I see a story I ask: is this something I'd like to be in? Is this something I'd like to see? And if I'd like to see it would I like to tell it?

Yes, in all my research the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.

Writing is truly a creative art - putting word to a blank piece of paper and ending up with a full-fledged story, rife with character and plot.

If you want a happy ending, that depends of course on where you stop your story.

All men are children and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed and wakes them in the morning.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

When the storytelling in a culture goes bad, the result is decadence.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises.

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

I used to take my short stories to girls' homes and read them to them. Can you imagine the reaction, reading a short story to a girl instead of pawing her?

The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.

Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

Keep it simple. Make a blank face and the music and the story will fill it in.