“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”
Permalink: Mark Twain
About this quote
He develops the joke in the essay he called 'Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction', arguing that fiction has to stay within the possible. The line survives long after the essay because it describes every strange true story that has ever been reported.
Source: Mark Twain's Notebook, essay 'Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction'