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Margaret Atwood Quotes - Page 18

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Come away with me, he said, we will live on a desert island. I said, I am a desert island. It was not what he had in mind.

Come away with me, he said, we will live on a desert island. I said, I am a desert island. It was not what he had in mind.

Margaret Atwood
Islands, Mind, Desert
Margaret Atwood (1987). “Selected Poems, 1965-1975”, p.204, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.

Margaret Atwood
Despite, One Thing
Margaret Atwood (1987). “Lady Oracle”, Fawcett

Without the protection of surliness and levity, all children would be crushed by the past—the past of others, loaded onto their shoulders. Selfishness is their saving grace.

Margaret Atwood
Children, Past, Grace
Margaret Atwood (2007). “The Blind Assassin: A Novel”, p.419, Anchor

This is what I miss, Cordelia: not something that’s gone, but something that will never happen. Two old women giggling over their tea.

Margaret Atwood
Two, Missing, Tea
Margaret Atwood (2009). “Cat's Eye”, p.350, Hachette UK

Pink is supposed to weaken your enemies, make them go soft on you, which must be why it's used for baby girls. It's a wonder the military hasn't got on to this.

Margaret Atwood
Girl, Baby, Military
Margaret Atwood (1989). “Cat's Eye”, Bantam

We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.

Margaret Atwood
Mean, Addiction, Talent
Margaret Atwood (2012). “Dancing Girls”, p.104, Simon and Schuster

A prison does not only lock its inmates inside, it keeps all others out. Her strongest prison is of her own construction.

Margaret Atwood
Doe, Locks, Inmates
Margaret Atwood (2011). “Alias Grace: A Novel”, Anchor

The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.

Margaret Atwood
Keeping Secrets, Secret, Way
Margaret Atwood (2007). “The Blind Assassin: A Novel”, p.407, Anchor

The proper study of Mankind is Everything.

Margaret Atwood
Study, Mankind
Margaret Atwood (2014). “The MaddAddam Trilogy Bundle: The Year of the Flood; Oryx & Crake; MaddAddam”, p.212, Anchor

expectation isn't the same as desire

Margaret Atwood
Expectations, Desire
Margaret Atwood (2014). “The MaddAddam Trilogy Bundle: The Year of the Flood; Oryx & Crake; MaddAddam”, p.272, Anchor

... all this talking, this rather liquid confessing, was something I didn't think I could ever bring myself to do. It seemed foolhardy to me, like an uncooked egg deciding to to come out of its shell: there would be a risk of spreading out too far, turning into a formless puddle.

Margaret Atwood
Thinking, Talking, Eggs
Margaret Atwood (1999). “The Edible Woman”, Emblem Editions

What is the real breath of a man — the breathing out or the breathing in?

Margaret Atwood
Real, Men, Breathing
Margaret Atwood (2007). “The Blind Assassin: A Novel”, p.27, Anchor

They seemed to be able to choose. We seemed to be able to choose, then. We were a society dying of too much choice.

Margaret Atwood
Choices, Dying, Able
Margaret Atwood (1986). “The Handmaid's Tale”, p.25, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I suppose these deadlines we set for ourselves are really a way of saying we appreciate time, and want to use all of it.

Margaret Atwood
Appreciate, Use, Want
"Margaret Atwood : Writing Philosophy". Waterstone's Poetry Lecture, Delivered At Hay On Wye, canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca. June 1995.

Younger people have greatest fears. Why is that? Because they don't know the plot. They don't know their own individual plot... they don't know what's going to happen to them.

Margaret Atwood
Greatest Fear, People, Plot
"Margaret Atwood On Progress, Fear And Social Media". Interview with Claire Sibonney, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 14, 2013.

It's clear, it's fresh, like a mint candy.

Margaret Atwood
Mint, Clear, Candy

We have been shark to one another, but also lifeboat.

Margaret Atwood
Sharks, Lifeboats, Has Beens
Margaret Atwood (1989). “Cat's Eye”, Bantam

He has to find more and better ways of occupying his time. His time, what a bankrupt idea, as if he's been given a box of time belonging to him alone, stuffed to the brim with hours and minutes that he can spend like money. Trouble is, the box has holes in it and the time is running out, no matter what he does with it.

Margaret Atwood
Running, Ideas, Doe
Margaret Atwood (2004). “Oryx and Crake”, p.40, Anchor

Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead, I've found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them.

Margaret Atwood
Found, Dangerous, Difficult
Margaret Atwood (2007). “The Blind Assassin: A Novel”, p.508, Anchor

Fatigue is here, in my body, in my legs and eyes. That is what gets you in the end. Faith is only a word, embroidered.

Margaret Atwood
Eye, Body, Legs
Margaret Atwood (1986). “The Handmaid's Tale”, p.292, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.

Margaret Atwood
Lying, Legs, Remember
Margaret Atwood (1986). “The Handmaid's Tale”, p.135, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Once you publish a book, it is out of your control. You cannot dictate how people read it.

Margaret Atwood
Book, People, Publish
"Margaret Atwood on green rabbits, writing sex and Twitter". Interview with Carolyn Kellogg, latimesblogs.latimes.com. October 9, 2009.

I would not change [my past work] anymore than I would airbrush a photo of myself.

Margaret Atwood
Past, My Past

The goals of the feminist movement have not been achieved, and those who claim we're living in a post-feminist era are either sadly mistaken or tired of thinking about the whole subject.

Margaret Atwood
Tired, Thinking, Goal
Margaret Atwood (1987). “The edible woman ; Surfacing ; Lady oracle”, Treasure Press

EXTINCTATHON, Monitored by MaddAddam. Adam named the living animals, MaddAddam names the dead ones. Do you want to play?

Margaret Atwood
Animal, Play, Names
Margaret Atwood (2009). “The Year of the Flood”, p.270, Anchor

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