Plot

Famous quotes containing the word plot:

    After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles I’d read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothers—especially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.
    Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)

    We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.
    —E.M. (Edward Morgan)

    But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
    The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
    And providently Pimps for ill desires:
    The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
    Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
    To raise up Common-wealths and ruine Kings.
    John Dryden (1631–1700)