I had been afraid of breast cancer, as I suspect most women are, from the time I hit adolescence. At that age, when our emerging sexuality is our central preoccupation, the idea of disfigurement of a breast is particularly horrifying. Geraldine Brooks More Quotes by Geraldine Brooks More Quotes From Geraldine Brooks A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand. Geraldine Brooks mind book hands There are always a few who stand up in times of communal madness and have the courage to say that what unites us is greater than what divides us. Geraldine Brooks divides madness greater To know a man's library is, in some measure, to know a man's mind. Geraldine Brooks mind attitude men She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them. Geraldine Brooks butterfly color wings Certainly I'm still mining my experiences as a journalist. I think it's no coincidence that all three of my novels basically are about how people act in a time of catastrophe. Do they go to their best self or their worst self? Geraldine Brooks self people thinking You go on. You set one foot in front of the other, and if a thin voice cries out, somewhere behind you, you pretend not to hear, and keep going. Geraldine Brooks persistence perseverance voice We were too intelligent, too cynical for war. Of course, you don't have to be stupid and primitive to die a stupid, primitive death. Geraldine Brooks intelligent stupid war Instead of idleness, vanity, or an intellect formed by the spoon-feeding of others, my girls have acquired energy, industry, and independence. Geraldine Brooks independence vanity girl I think probably the scaredest I've ever been was in Somalia. I arrived there when the episode that became known as 'Black Hawk Down' was still taking place. The Americans were still pinned down under fire. And everybody else was basically going the other way, and I was the only one putting my hand up for a flight in. Geraldine Brooks fire hands thinking The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure. Geraldine Brooks historical imagination fiction The great thing about being always among people of noble manners was the inevitable elevation of one's own. Geraldine Brooks noble manners people The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads. Geraldine Brooks real hero moving I'm a praying atheist. When I hear an ambulance siren, I ask for a blessing for those people in trouble, knowing that no one's listening. I think it's just a habit of mindfulness. Geraldine Brooks atheist blessing thinking Who is the brave man--he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination. Geraldine Brooks imagination fear men If there is one class of person I have never quite trusted, it is a man who knows no doubt. Geraldine Brooks doubt class men If a man is to lose his fortune, it is a good thing if he were poor before he acquired it, for poverty requires aptitude. Geraldine Brooks aptitude poverty men It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. The past may be another country. But the only passport required is empathy. Geraldine Brooks writing country past Write what you know. Every guide for the aspiring author advises this. Because I live in a long-settled rural place, I know certain things. I know the feel of a newborn lamb's damp, tight-curled fleece and the sharp sound a well-bucket chain makes as it scrapes on stone. But more than these material things, I know the feelings that flourish in small communities. And I know other kinds of emotional truths that I believe apply across the centuries. Geraldine Brooks emotional writing believe Despair is a cavern beneath our feet and we teeter on its very brink. Geraldine Brooks caverns despair feet Yes, it seems we've got this mutant gene in our human personality that makes us susceptible to this same kind of mistake over and over again. It's really uncanny how we build these beautiful multicultural edifices and then allow this switch to be flipped and everybody goes, 'Oh, the other, get them out of here. Geraldine Brooks personality mistake beautiful
