"Ok, it's fiction... but it brings me closer to reality". La Chinoise (1967)

“It is by such statements as “Once upon a time there was a dragon,” or “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit”—it is by such beautiful nonfacts that we fantastic human beings may arrive, in our peculiar fashion, at the truth.”

Le Guin, Ursula K.. The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy (p. 30). (Function).