It sounds to me, young one," Haddek said, "that you are searching for something that cannot be found." "The truth?" Sazed said. "No," Haddek replied. "A religion that requires no faith of its believers.
Brandon SandersonRead
What did you put in the fire?" Kaladin said. "To make that special smoke?" "Nothing. It was just and ordinary fire." "But, I saw-" "What you saw belongs to you. A story doesn't live until it is imagined in someone's mind." "What does the story mean, then?" "It means what you want it to mean," Hoid said. "The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think , but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Stories take on meaning based on individual interpretation and imagination.
This quote illustrates the idea that narratives and stories are not fixed in their meaning; rather, they live and evolve through the imagination of the audience. Hoid emphasizes the importance of personal interpretation and encourages listeners to engage deeply with stories, suggesting that a storyteller's role is to provoke thought rather than dictate meaning.
Themes
StorytellingImaginationInterpretationMeaningThought
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a literary discussion to highlight the importance of personal interpretation.
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