It occurred to me that everyone’s story matters to themselves, so the more I listened, the more she wanted to talk.

I have always thought about how stupid and boring violence seems in this world where we could just listen to more stories instead, right? We could ask people who trouble us, Could you tell me your story? Usually I have found when you ask someone to do that, you end up feeling closer to them, even if their story in no way mirrors yours. Find a better thing to do.

I wondered if the person who really loves you is the person who knows all your stories, the person who WANTS to know all your stories.

It's because she wants it told he thought so that people whom she will never see and whose names she will never hear and who have never heard her name nor seen her face will read it and know at last why God let us lose the War: that only through the blood of our men and the tears of our women could He stay this demon and efface his name and lineage from the earth.

I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.

Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.

Tell them stories. They need the truth you must tell them true stories, and everything will be well, just tell them stories.

You don’t really understand people until you hear their life story. If you know their stories, you grasp their history, their hurts, their hopes and aspirations. You put yourself in their shoes. And just by virtue of listening and remembering what’s important to them, you communicate that you care and desire to add value.

I had always felt that if there were a serious war I wished to be in a position to explain to my children why I did take part in it, and not why I did not take part in it.

Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time.

We tell each other stories in order to live.

I had a story tell, a story that needed to be told so that people would know the truth.

I think if you like somebody you have to tell them. It might be embarrassing to say it, but you will never regret stepping up.

I will not be a mystery to my daughter. She will know me and I will share my stories with her—the stories of failure, shame and accomplishment. She will know she's not alone in that wilderness.