Storytelling quotes

“John Houseman-All I am saying is, no one can write like that.
Herman Mankiewicz-But I can write like that, Houseman. I have. The narrative is one big circle, like a cinnamon roll. Not a straight line pointing to the nearest exit. You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.”
Gary Leonard Oldman - Herman Mankiewicz
Sam Troughton - John Houseman

John Houseman-The story is so scattered, I’m afraid one will need a road map.
Herman Mankiewicz-You mean it’s a mess.
John Houseman-Would you consider simplifying?
Herman Mankiewicz-As Pascal once said, “If only I’d had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
Gary Leonard Oldman - Herman Mankiewicz
Sam Troughton - John Houseman

“See all those words printed in a line one after the other? Put them all together, and you have a story.”
Tom Hanks - Captain Kidd

“Now, I know how life is in these parts, working a trade sunup to sundown. No time for reading newspapers. Am I correct? Let me do that work for you. And maybe, just for tonight, we can escape our troubles, and hear of the great changes that are happening out there.”
Tom Hanks - Captain Kidd

“The only truly reliable narrator is life itself. But life itself is also completely unreliable because it is constantly misdirecting and misleading us and taking us on this journey where it is literally impossible to predict where it is going to go next... Life as the ultimate Unreliable Narrator.”
Olivia Wilde - Abby

“A lie is just a great story that someone ruined with the truth.”
Neil Patrick Harris - Barney Stinson

“- Peter Joshua: All right, get set for the story of my life.
- Reggie Lampert: Fiction or non-fiction?”
Cary Grant - Peter Joshua
Audrey Hepburn - Regina Lampert

“- Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?
- Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
James Stewart - Ransom Stoddard
Carleton Young - Maxwell Scott

“No one knows the three-dimensional story of who I am. Or anyone is.”
Henry Golding

“When bad things happen to good people they still need to have their stories told, they deserve that much!”
Ethan Hawke - Ellison Oswalt

“- Gordon: Just so you know, if you want to impress me, I like fight stories. Ever been in a fight?
- Norval Greenwood: No.
- Gordon: I have. I once accidentally kicked a guy's ear off. I didn't mean to, but the fucker flew off. I could see right into his skull. Good night.”
Stephen McHattie - Gordon
Elijah Wood - Norval Greenwood

“I made stories, legends. After all, what is language for? It's not just the naming of things, is it? It's the lifeblood of a culture, a people.”
Nicholas Hoult - J.R.R. Tolkien

“- Edith Bratt: I love Wagner's Rheingold.
- Robert Gilson: Christopher finds those too long.
- Christopher Wiseman: No, I don't.
- Robert Gilson: Well, nobody blames you. It shouldn't take six hours to tell a story about a magic ring.”
Lily Collins - Edith Bratt
Patrick Gibson - Robert Gilson
Tom Glynn-Carney - Christopher Wiseman

“There are constant cycles in history. There is loss, but it is always followed by regeneration. The tales of our elders who remember such cycles are very important to us now.”
Sandra Dee

“True stories are way more interesting.”
Travis Fimmel

“I feel I'm following my path. I'm living my truth, and my path is storytelling.”
Winston Duke

“- Ephraim Winslow: What made your last keeper leave?
- Thomas Wake: He believed that there was some enchantment in the light. Went mad, he did.
- Ephraim Winslow: Tall tales.
- Thomas Wake: What?”
Logan Hawkes - Ephraim Winslow
Willem Dafoe - Thomas Wake

“They say if you want to tell a story right, you gotta start at the beginning.”
Margot Robbie - Harley Quinn

“Physical evidence can tell a clear story with a forked tongue.”
Daniel Craig - Benoit Blanc

“- George Peatty: This couple, sittin' just in front of me, oh, they weren't young, exactly. I guess the woman was about your age.
- Sherry Peatty: A little senile, you mean? With one foot and a big toe in the grave?
- George Peatty: You want to hear this or not? Do you or not, Sherry?
- Sherry Peatty: I can't wait. Go ahead and thrill me George.”
Elisha Cook Jr. - George Peatty
Marie Windsor - Sherry Peatty

“You know the story, but people can't get enough of them, like little children. Because, well, they connect the stories to themselves, I suppose, and we all love hearing about ourselves, so long as the people in the stories are us, but not us. Not us in the end, especially.”

Jonjo O'Neill - Englishman

“- Han Solo: I heard a story about you. I was wondering if it's true.
- Lando Calrissian: Everything you've heard about me is true.”
Alden Ehrenreich - Han Solo
Donald Glover - Lando Calrissian

“- Veronika: I like your stories. I think you should write them down.
- Spud: You think?
- Veronika: Yeah. Just write them the way you say them. They're funny. I would like to read them.”
Anjela Nedyalkova - Veronika
Ewen Bremner - Spud

“- March Hare: Start at the beginning.
- Mad Hatter: Yes, yes. And when you come to the end...”
Jerry Colonna - March Hare
Ed Wynn - The Mad Hatter

“- Billie Dawn: How about the story of your life?
- Paul Verrall: Oh no. Much too long... and mostly untrue.”
Judy Holliday - Billie Dawn
William M. Holden - Paul Verrall