anything close to the quote would be OK.  (but nothing "flip") 
it was suggested to me that it might be sourced from the Bible.  
Doesn't sound right to me.  But some sort of Spiritual text perhaps?
Thank you sooooo much.
Barbara

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 29 Jan 2006 15:41 PST

Hi,
Variations on the saying that you describe are usually attributed to
author Elie Wiesel.  Specifically, the quotation, "God made man
because he loves stories," appears in Wiesel's 1966 novel, "The Gates
of the Forest."

See:
://www.google.com/search?q=wiesel+%22gates+of+the+forest%22+%22loves+stories&hl=en&lr=&start=30&sa=N
Or:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22God+*+man+because+He+loves+stories%22+&btnG=Search

Does this answer your question?

---

Clarification of Question by barbara2-ga on 29 Jan 2006 20:46 PST

The person who sent me the quote writes:
In the book of quotations where I found it, can't remember which book, 
it was credited as ""Old Hebrew Proverb.""
which would make sense that it would appear in an Elie Wiesel novel.

He gave me the quote prior to 1996, before the Elie Wiesel novel - so
I wonder if you might be able to find the source of the book which had
it credited as "Old Hebrew Proverb."

thank you so much!

---

Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 29 Jan 2006 21:15 PST

I'm going to go ahead and put Elie Wiesel down here as the official answer.  Wi

 Elie Wiesel's  "The Gates of the Forest" was published forty (40)
years ago in 1966 (that's Nineteen Sixty-Six, not 1996, as you state),
so Wiesel's usage predates when the person gave you the quotation.
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gates+of+the+forest%22+1966&btnG=Google+Search


It's my guess that it likely IS a Hebrew proverb, but that it's the
sort of proverb that likely wouldn't be widely known had Elie Wiesel
not used it.  When a popular, Nobel Prize-winning author takes an
obscure saying and uses it in one of his works, the phrase and the
author's usage becomes preeminent. That's likely what happened in this
case.  Indeed, the phrase is so closely associated with Wiesel that
PBS uses it as his signature quotation in the left sidebar of a
webpage devoted to him:

   	"There is something in the story which is almost eternal. God
created man because He loves stories...Telling the Tale of course can
be the over-all title for most of my work." - Elie Wiesel'
http://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/search.html

I hope this helps.

I'm going to go ahead and put Elie Wiesel down here as the official answer.  Wi

 Elie Wiesel's  "The Gates of the Forest" was published forty (40)
years ago in 1966 (that's Nineteen Sixty-Six, not 1996, as you state),
so Wiesel's usage predates when the person gave you the quotation.
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gates+of+the+forest%22+1966&btnG=Google+Search


It's my guess that it likely IS a Hebrew proverb, but that it's the
sort of proverb that likely wouldn't be widely known had Elie Wiesel
not used it.  When a popular, Nobel Prize-winning author takes an
obscure saying and uses it in one of his works, the phrase and the
author's usage becomes preeminent. That's likely what happened in this
case.  Indeed, the phrase is so closely associated with Wiesel that
PBS uses it as his signature quotation in the left sidebar of a
webpage devoted to him:

   	"There is something in the story which is almost eternal. God
created man because He loves stories...Telling the Tale of course can
be the over-all title for most of my work." - Elie Wiesel'
http://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/search.html

I hope this helps.

thank you veyr much.  the PBS note completes the picture.