“A story is not always a lie," said Tristan. "Some stories are truer than truth." Truer than truth? That sounded like something liars made up to tell people who found them out.”

“Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.”

“Lore is my favorite kind of story. Because it's not only historical, it's a lie everyone knows is a lie but tells anyway. I love that. Of course every story I tell is true. Completely true. Completely and utterly at least five-eighths of the way to being true, which is truer than any piece of lore and truer than most truths you'll hear.”

“I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.”

“A lie, sometimes, can be truer than the truth, which is why fiction gets written.”

“You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, 'Is it true?' and if the answer matters, you've got your answer . . . Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”