Truth is stranger than fiction

This saying, which means that things that happen in real life are often more bizarre than anything that could be imagined, has achieved proverbial status. It is attributed to Lord Byron's satirical poem Don Juan, 1823. ''Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction; if it could be told, How much would novels gain by the exchange!' Mark Twain popularised it in 1894, but the coinage belongs to Byron.