I've always thought that very few people grow old as admirably as academics. At least books never let them down. Margaret Drabble More Quotes by Margaret Drabble More Quotes From Margaret Drabble When nothing is sure, everything is possible. Margaret Drabble impossible-thingswittypositive Lord knows what incommunicable small terrors infants go through, unknown to all. Margaret Drabble infantterrorlord Family life itself, that safest, most traditional, most approved of female choices, is not a sanctuary: It is, perpetually, a dangerous place. Margaret Drabble femalefamilychoices How extraordinary people are, that they get themselves into such situations where they go on doing what they dislike doing, and have no need or obligation to do, simply because it seems to be expected. Margaret Drabble expectationspeopleneeds I confidently predict the collapse of capitalism and the beginning of history. Something will go wrong in the machinery that converts money into money, the banking system will collapse totally, and we will be left having to barter to stay alive. Those who can dig in their garden will have a better chance than the rest. I'll be all right; I've got a few veg. Margaret Drabble bankingalivegarden How unjust life is, to make physical charm so immediately apparent or absent, when one can get away with vices untold for ever. Margaret Drabble unjustviceslife-is What really annoys me are the ones who write to say, I am doing your book for my final examinations and could you please tell me what the meaning of it is. I find it just so staggering--that you're supposed to explain the meaning of your book to some total stranger! If I knew what the meanings of my books were, I wouldn't have bothered to write them. Margaret Drabble finalswritingbook The human mind can bear plenty of reality but not too much intermittent gloom. Margaret Drabble bearsmindreality Novels, since the birth of the genre, have been full of rejected, seduced, and abandoned maidens, whose proper fate is to die. Margaret Drabble abandonedbirthfate The women are always vixens or monsters. They can't just be normal people in the book. Margaret Drabble monstersbookpeople World War II put feminism on hold for a long time; the men went away to fight, a lot of women in those years got jobs both in teaching and in factories - at all social levels - which they enjoyed very much. A lot of them were quite happy during the war. Margaret Drabble teachingjobswar I actually remember feeling delight, at two o'clock in the morning, when the baby woke for his feed, because I so longed to have another look at him. Margaret Drabble morningpositivebaby There are some people who cannot get onto a train without imagining that they are about to voyage into the significant unknown; as though the notion of movement were inseparably connected with the notion of discovery, as though each displacement of the body were a displacement of the soul. Margaret Drabble discoverypeopletravel You have to be careful what you imagine, because the act of imagining is the act of encouraging yourself to be a certain kind of person. Margaret Drabble imaginekindimagination On one thing professionals and amateurs agree: mothers can't win. Margaret Drabble cant-winmotherwinning My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable. It has possessed me, like a disease. It rises up in my throat like acid reflux, that fashionable American sickness. I now loathe the United States and what it has done to Iraq and the rest of the helpless world. Margaret Drabble united-statesiraqdone Men and women can never be close. They can hardly speak to one another in the same language. But are compelled, forever, to try, and therefore even in defeat there is no peace. Margaret Drabble forevertryingmen If I knew what the meanings of my books were, I wouldn't have bothered to write them. Margaret Drabble botheredwritingbook Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is compensates for the misery of being it. Margaret Drabble miserywisdomsimple Why can't people be both flexible and efficient? Margaret Drabble flexibleefficientpeople
