Dorothy Allison Quotes

stories are the one sure way I know to touch the heart and change the world.

Humanity has this need to hear stories because they connect us with other people, they teach us about our own feelings. We feel less lonely when we see other people going through the same things, even if they're fictional characters.

Storytelling is how we survive, when there's no feed, the story feeds something, it feeds the spirit, the imagination. I can't imagine life without stories, stories from my parents, my culture. Stories from other people's parents, their culture. That's how we learn from each other, it's the best way. That's why literature is so important, it connects us heart to heart.

It's always been my hope that I would write a story that would inspire and would connect with people in a way that would touch hearts.

You want people to feel something when you tell a story, whether they feel happy or whether they feel sad.

I think it can be really powerful, and one of the reasons I love making films is I do feel they can reach beyond the statistics and the numbers and the complexities of a particular issue and really highlight the humanity in a way that an article or newspaper story might not be able to do.

My purpose as a writer is to communicate in such a way as to challenge the thinking of readers and touch their hearts.

My job is to engage, entertain, work out my life, tell a certain truth.

The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'

To me, as a director and an actor, that's the main thing. "What's the heart of this story? What's the humanity of this story? And if the movie doesn't have it, then why am I watching it?" Even if it's a silly comedy, like Superbad or Knocked Up - Judd Apatow, I love, because he's all about heart. The humor comes out of the humanity.

A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves. Sick storytellers can make nations sick. Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose it’s moorings or orientation... Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger.

Stories are the shortcut to the heart.

'Thou shalt not' might reach the head, but it takes 'Once upon a time' to reach the heart.

But this too is true: stories can save us.

Stories can be a jumping-off point to access the emotions and the sensations in the body.

I think that stories, and the telling of stories, are the foundations of human communication and understanding. If children all over the country are watching films, asking questions and telling their stories, then the world will eventually be a better place.

Stories are more than compelling facts. People remember stories more than they remember statistics.

To connect to people at the deepest level, you need stories.

The purpose of fiction is to combat loneliness.

Storytelling has always been at the heart of being human because it serves some of our most basic needs: passing along our traditions, confessing failings, healing wounds, engendering hope, strengthening our sense of community.

I believe that everybody needs to tell their story - to be heard, to be seen, to be acknowledged, to be understood. We all want that, deep down inside - and writing a book is a great way to make sense of your own experience and to share it with others.

Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.

Then I tell my own story. The two things that people really need to transform is language to understand their experience and to know they're not alone. It's the combination of the researcher-storyteller part.

The story is always better than your ability to write it.

It is our stories [classic Disney films] that make us human - so Owen [Suskind] has become an expert in what connects us and makes us human. That got to me, the power of these stories, and the lessons these tales give us to create the connection between us.