There's an old saying: 'No piece of writing is ever finished, it's just abandoned.' But my own rule is: No piece of work is done until you want to kill everyone involved in the publishing process, especially yourself.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Some stories, she’d say, the more you tell them, the faster you use them up. Those kind, the drama burns off, and every version, they sound more silly and flat. The other kind of story, it uses you up. The more you tell it, the stronger it gets. Those kind of stories only remind you how stupid you were. Are. Will always be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Some stories lose their significance the more they are told, while others deepen in meaning and impact each time they are shared.
This quote by Chuck Palahniuk explores the nature of storytelling and personal experience. It differentiates between superficial narratives that diminish in their effect through repetition and profound stories that resonate deeply, reflecting one's continuous growth and self-awareness. The latter type serves as a reminder of past mistakes and ongoing flaws, yet paradoxically strengthens one's identity and understanding over time.
Themes
StorytellingExperienceGrowthSelf-AwarenessNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, I quoted this to emphasize the importance of genuine storytelling.
More from Chuck Palahniuk
All quotes →Griping isn't the same as creating something. Rebelling isn't rebuilding. Ridiculing isn't replacing. We've taken the world apart but we have no idea what to do with the pieces.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If we can forgive what’s been done to us... If we can forgive what we’ve done to others... If we can leave all of our stories behind. Our being villains or victims. Only then can we maybe rescue the world.
Chuck PalahniukRead
We're all trapped. It's always 1734. All of us, we're stuck in the same time capsule, the same as those television shows where the same people are marooned on the same desert island for thirty seasons and never age or escape. They just wear more makeup. In a creepy way, those shows are maybe too authentic.
Chuck PalahniukRead
One thing I really envy about my friends who have kids is that as their children develop, they're able to revisit their own developmental stages and recognise themselves and undo a lot of things they decided.
Chuck PalahniukRead
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing 'real' was at risk, what would you do? You'd live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That's what the ghosts want us to do - all the exciting things they no longer can.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Similar quotes
since some people had told me that I was ugly, I always preferred shade to the sun, darkness to light
Charles BukowskiRead
Don't think of what's past!" said she. "I am not going to think outside of now. Why should we! Who knows what tomorrow has in store?
Thomas HardyRead
Truth, which is simple and one, admits of no variety.
Pope Leo IRead
It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.
Idries ShahRead
The basis of drama is... the struggle of the hero towards a specific goal at the end of which he realises that what kept him from it was, in the lesser drama, civilisation and, in the great drama, the discovery of something that he did not set out to discover but which can be seen retrospectively as inevitable.
David MametRead
Emancipated' women found out that the honesty, generosity, and camaraderie of men was a lie.
Shulamith FirestoneRead