# Help me source a quote - "The trick to writing happy stories is knowing when to stop." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115 "2017-06-16T14:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/1 "2017-06-16T14:18:20Z")
This quote has been driving me insane. I though at first it sounded Chuck Palahniuk-y, but I think I was just confusing it with “On a long enough timeline, the survival chances of everyone drops to zero.” (which, admitedly, is the same sentiment.) Then I though John Green, but that’s not quite right. I can’t find it in John Irvings books either. Is it Gaiman? I have no idea. Does this ring a bell for anyone? Help? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/2 "2017-06-16T14:41:53Z")
Neil Gaiman. Sandman. Issue 6, I believe. “24 Hours”. It’s the one featured in the diner where Doctor Dee tortures and kills everyone. The waitress writes stories about her customers and that’s how she says she always gets a happy ending. ETA: At least I think so. I can’t find my copy. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/3 "2017-06-16T14:52:10Z")
I don’t have a copy nearby, but that matches my memory. Aha! [Sandman quotes.](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Sandman) > [@](#): > > All Bette’s stories have happy endings. That’s because she knows where to stop. She’s realized the real problem with stories — if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/4 "2017-06-16T14:59:32Z")
Brilliant! Thanks you so much. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/5 "2017-06-16T16:49:33Z")
“All true stories, if continued long enough, end in death” belongs to Hemingway. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/6 "2017-06-18T02:09:25Z")
In one of his screenplays, Orson Welles wrote, “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” But, as we are seeing, more than one great writer managed to arrive at this nugget of wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-source-a-quote-the-trick-to-writing-happy-stories-is-knowing-when-to-stop/789115/7 "2017-06-18T02:35:08Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > “All true stories, if continued long enough, end in death” belongs to Hemingway. According to[wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway), it’s from Chapter 11 of Death in the Afternoon (1932): > [@](#): > > Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you. Not sure what the context is, there. But I begin to suspect that Gaiman may have been hinting that Bette was no true-story teller.