"... And in the novel, as in life, whether he lives or dies depends on which story he believes."

"And this I do believe."

"Which is why I tell these three stories over and over again. the story of the time my son and I came to Canada. The story of my short career as a basketball player. the story of an old man and his garden. "

"And there are others."

"I tell them to myself, to my friends, sometimes to strangers. Because they make me laugh. Because they are a particular kind of story. Saving stories, if you will. Stories that help keep me alive."

"Of course, you don't have to pay attention to any of these stories. Louis's story is not particularly cheery. Alexie's story doesn't have a demonstrably happy ending. Neither participates fully in Western epistemologies, and my three don't have a moral centre not are they particularly illuminating."

"But help yourself to one if you like."

"Take Louis's story, for instance. It's yours. Do with it what you will. Cry over it. Get angry. Forget it. But don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story."

"You've heard it now."(Tomas King | The Truth About Stories | A Million Porcupines Crying in the Dark | 119)