If you hear a statistic, you will make up a story to go with it, because our brains are organized on narrative. And you may very well make up a wrong story because you only have one fact, which is a statistic.
Usually, when I read something, I'm looking for the story first. And then, when I re-read it, I check every part of it to see whether every scene is necessary. You imagine yourself watching the movie, to see whether or not you're losing the through-l...
This is the story, this is your character, I have the sense of the landscape, I have the sense of the scene, I have all that stuff. But I'm also looking for something else to happen, an accident or something. You're focused on the story you intend to...
I don't teach literature from my perspective as 'Joyce Carol Oates.' I try to teach fiction from the perspective of each writer. If I'm teaching a story by Hemingway, my endeavor is to present the story that Hemingway wrote in its fullest realization...
The most extraordinary thing about trying to piece together the missing links in the evolutionary story is that when you do find a missing link and put it in the story, you suddenly need all these other missing links to connect to the new discovery. ...
I believe that this idea of story or myth or this thing that Joseph Campbell writes about is sort of an inter-connective spiritual force - like The Force in 'Star Wars' - where it doesn't matter where you were raised, or what your background is, ther...
A lot of the stories I was brought up on had to do with extreme actions - leaving everything behind, crossing the trackless wastes, and in those stories the people who stayed behind and had their settled ways - those people were not the people who go...
Epidemiologists study patterns in order to combat infection. Stories about epidemics follow patterns, too. Stories aren't often deadly, but they can be virulent: spreading fast, weakening resistance, wreaking havoc.
While tributes to Americans who had lost their lives in battle had been held in a number of towns across the nation, one of the more well-known stories about the beginnings of Memorial Day is the story about General John Logan.
I came to America, and I made good. It's an old story, but it hasn't been told in a long time. Usually, it's, 'I'm an immigrant, I came here and got persecuted.' My story is I came here, I worked hard, and it worked out all right. So it's still avail...
When I'm putting a story together, I generally know the ending and a couple of the points halfway through, and I've got sort of an idea about the beginning, and although I do write the story one sentence at a time, when I'm thinking it up, I'm thinki...
I make up stories in my head all the time, but I've never written them down. But I write a lot of story songs. Any song I'm singing, I sort of see it like a movie in my head. That's why a lot of times I close my eyes when I'm singing.
Somebody asked me earlier if I thought it was really important to tell stories about women's struggles. And I said yes, but at the same time, it's also important to tell stories about women's triumphs, women being slackers, women being criminals, wom...
I don't have them down here asking me what my urban agenda is. I don't find them really doing in-depth stories on community-based organizations that have been struggling for a long time and who are out trying to get funds. They aren't interested in t...
Rex: [gasps] What're we gonna do, Buzz? Buzz Lightyear #2: Use your head! [the toys use Rex as a battering ram in the next shot] Rex: But I don't wanna use my head!
Mr. Potato Head: Prepare to meet [shouts] Mr. Potato Head: Mr Angry Eyes! Argh argh! [he accidentally sticks his extra pair of shoes on his face and runs into a wall]
[Potato Head has saved some alien toys] Alien toys: You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful. Mr. Potato Head: Will you just leave me alone?
[Woody explains his newfound past to his old friends] Woody: Oh, you should have seen it. There was a record player. And a yo-yo. Buzz, I was a yo-yo! Mr. Potato Head: [to Hamm] WAS?
Buzz Lightyear #2: Has your mind been melted? You could have killed me, Space Ranger. Or should I say "traitor." Buzz Lightyear: I don't have time for this.
[Woody goes to the yard sale] Mr. Potato Head: Where is he going? He's nuts! Slinky Dog: His arm ain't that bad! Rex: Don't do it, Woody! We love you!
[in the airplane's cargo hold, Woody finds Jessie rolled up in a corner of the green case] Woody: [deep voice] Excuse me, ma'am, but I believe you're on the wrong flight.
