How to Tell a Story Quotes

“Honesty and empathy do not flourish in the expectation of perfection. —MEG BOWLES”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“You don’t need to be a writer to be a storyteller. Your story is enough. —Padma Lakshmi”
― The Moth, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“As a storyteller, you should constantly ask yourself: What was unique to my experience? Why am I the only person who can tell this story? How can I best deliver my story to an audience who may not have lived through the same thing? Often when you’re telling a story about an event, especially a tragic event, it can quickly become a recounting of a series of things that happened. The dreaded and then and then and then. By finding a smaller detail or story within the larger events—a narrative thread—you are able to give the story an arc instead.”
― The Moth, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“We are emotional beings. We feel nostalgic about people and places, sentimental about childhood. We cry at weddings and revel in surprise. We love passionately and mourn deeply. Beyond eloquent and invisible construction of the story, emotion is the glue that connects storytellers and listeners.”
― The Moth, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“Sometimes you have to figure out who you’re not before you can become who you are.”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“Follow your passions, but be prepared to brace for impact.”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“In his story “Have You Met Him Yet?,” former White House staffer David Litt has the simple task of handing over headphones…to President Barack Obama. I reached into my pocket and pulled out what looks like a hairball made out of wires. I don’t know what’s happened. I guess somewhere in that waiting room, I have just worried this thing into a hopeless tangle. And now I don’t know what to do, so I just hand the entire thing to the president of the United States. Now, if you work in the White House, you will hear the phrase “There is no commodity on earth more valuable than a president’s time,” which I always thought was a cliché. Until…I watched Barack Obama…untangle headphones…for thirty seconds…while looking directly at me.”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“I woke up with the line “Sometimes you have to figure out who you’re not before you can become who you are.” When I tried this line at the”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“I was there because I believe in the supreme power of storytelling. It’s been the one through line in all my work. It’s really the only superpower we humans have. Think about it. The cheetah is faster, the elephant stronger, the eagle can soar much higher than any Olympic pole vaulter. Storytelling is the best thing about being human. And I believe it can change the world. That’s right. Stories can and do change the world.”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“Storytelling is sacred; it is how we keep the dead living, and the living thriving. It’s how we show up as our most authentic self. It can permeate artificial boundaries of race, borders, gender, language, and unequal power. It is the language of the heart, reflecting the breadth of our humanity as individuals and as a collective. —FATOU WURIE, MOTH STORYTELLER”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“You have important stories to tell. They are stories that no one else can tell. But you have to be willing to do the work of developing them—and then work through your fears to share them.”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

“Scheherazade’s thousand and one tales. There are plenty of books”
― Meg Bowles, How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth