“The universe is made of stories, not atoms.”
– Muriel Rukeyser, American novelist, poet, biographer, and screenwriter
 
“Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and the once upon a time comes to stand for some renascent truth. This approach applies to all the incidents of everyday life: the phrase in the newspaper, the endearing or infuriating game of a toddler, the misunderstanding at the office. Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.”
– Mary Catherine Bateson, American writer and cultural anthropologist

“….myth (stories) is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Religions, philosophies, arts, the social forms of primitive and historic man, prime discoveries, in science and technology, the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth.”
– Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.”
– John Barth, American novelist and short-story writer

“All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero’s Journey…The Hero’s Journey is nothing less than a handbook for life, a complete instruction manual in the art of being human.”
– Chris Vogel, The Writer’s Journey

“We have found that the most effective persuaders use language in a particular way.  They supplement numerical data with examples, stories, metaphors, and analogies to make their positions come alive.  That use of language paints a vivid word picture and, in doing so, lends a compelling and tangible quality to the persuader’s point of view.”
– Jay Conger, "The Necessary Art of Persuasion," Harvard Business Review

“Those who tell the stories rule society.”
– Plato

“Concrete language and stories defeat the curse of knowledge and make executives’ strategy statements stickier. As a result, all the members of an organization can share an understanding of the strategies and a language for discussing them….FedEx, for example, uses a story related to its Purple Promise award, which honors employees who uphold FedEx’s guarantee that packages will ‘absolutely, positively’ arrive overnight: In New York, a FedEx delivery truck broke down and the replacement van was running late. The driver initially delivered a few packages on foot; but then, despairing of finishing her route on time, she managed to persuade a competitor’s driver to take her to her last few stops.”
– Chip Heath and Dan Heath, "The Curse of Knowledge," Harvard Business Review