Truth is stranger than fiction.
Meaning: Reality often presents unexpected twists that invented stories cannot match in sheer improbability.
Origin: Lord Byron's Don Juan (1823) has "'Tis strange — but true; for truth is always strange; / Stranger than fiction." Mark Twain later explained why, in Following the Equator (1897): fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, and truth isn't.
More proverbs about Morality
- Fair fall truth and daylight. — Truth endures like dawn; concealment crumbles when light reveals what darkness protected.
- As good twenty as nineteen. — Waiting one more year won't materially improve a situation already long delayed or postpo…
- Good wares make quick markets. — Quality products sell themselves without requiring aggressive persuasion or extended nego…
- Good watch prevents misfortune. — Vigilant attention to detail and circumstances stops problems before they develop into se…
- Good wine needs no bush. — Excellent quality requires no advertisement; genuine merit speaks for itself without prom…
- What goes around comes around — Your actions will eventually return to affect you.
From our untranslatable words
- Matpakke — The plain packed lunch of open sandwiches in paper, eaten at your desk — a small national…
- Takk for sist — A greeting that thanks someone for the previous occasion you met, acknowledging shared hi…
- Orka — To have the energy or will for something. Jag orkar inte carries the whole of 'I can't fa…