Fiction is Truth's elder sister. — Rudyard Kipling · Smartyfair

Fiction is Truth's elder sister.

Rudyard Kipling1865–1936 · writer · 1800s-1900s India & EnglandRudyard Kipling was a British writer born in India whose adventure stories, including The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, have delighted children for over a century.1 quote

Source foundStoriesWisdom1800s

In plain words

Made-up stories have been showing people what's true for a very long time.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 88% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up: From Kipling's speech 'Fiction' to the Royal Society of Literature, June 1926; published in Writings on Writing: Rudyard Kipling (1996), ed. Kemp & Lewis, p. 80.
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 21 August 2026Quotes section, sourced to 1926 Royal Society of Literature speech, published 1996

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More history

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