# Quotation help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377 "2006-08-27T01:15:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/1 "2006-08-27T01:15:08Z")

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The quote I’m looking for is something like, “If history were better written, nobody would need to read fiction.” Or, " … nobody would read fiction." Something like that.

My Google search of “if history were better written” + “fiction” has turned up nothing. Can anyone help with the source of this quote?

TIA

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/2 "2006-08-27T01:38:54Z")

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The closest I could come in a cursory search was Rudyard Kipling-If history were written as stories it would never be forgotten.

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/3 "2006-08-27T02:17:14Z")

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[QUOTE=David Simmons]  
The closest I could come in a cursory search was Rudyard Kipling-If history were written as stories it would never be forgotten.  
[/QUOTE]

Thanks–yeah I found that one, and it isn’t quite it (although I do like it).

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**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/4 "2006-08-27T05:12:10Z")

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Related, possibly:

Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.  
-Leo Rosten

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**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/5 "2006-08-27T16:03:27Z")

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[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze]  
The quote I’m looking for is something like, “If history were better written, nobody would need to read fiction.”  
[/QUOTE]

That is a great quote and so true. One of my peeves is that dull history textbooks are all written by historians rather than by novelists.

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**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotation-help/370377/6 "2006-08-27T16:12:35Z")

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FWIW, I disagree with the quote. I generally prefer history to fiction, in part because I generally find it to be better written. As for the quote, I’ve checked my “usual sources” and come up dry. I assume you’re looking for an attribution for something you’re writing. If no one knows/finds this one, you could always use the old dodge, "as someone once said … "