“What ails the bald truth is that it is mainly uncomfortable, and never caressing.”

“The two elements, of untruth and of beauty, are both important, and perhaps equally.”

“No normal human being wants to hear the truth … [Truth speakers] are hated for it while they live, and when they die they are swiftly forgotten.”

“The more simple-minded the individual, indeed, the greater his need of poetry [stories], and hence the more steady his demand for it.”

– Henry Louis Mencken

With respect to politicians, I think the successful ones tell good stories.