Origins of Sayings - Truth is Stranger than Fiction

About the history and origins behind the famous saying truth is stranger than fiction.

Stories behind Famous Sayings

The Saying: TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.

Who Said It: Lord Byron

When: 1823

The Story behind It: This line appears in Byron's poem Don Juan:

'Tis strange,-but true; for truth is always strange;

Stranger than fiction: if it could be told,

How much would novels gain by the exchange!

How differently the world would men behold!

In 1858 Josiah Henson (1789-1883), a Maryland-born slave, wrote an autobiography titled Truth Stranger than Fiction. Henson was supposedly the real-life Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.


© 1975 - 1981 by David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace
Reproduced with permission from "The People's Almanac" series of books.
All rights reserved.

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