Language is what stops the heart exploding. Jeanette Winterson More Quotes by Jeanette Winterson More Quotes From Jeanette Winterson Don’t you, when strangers and friends come to call, straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? Isn’t the mirror hostile enough? Jeanette Winterson strangers-and-friendswritingbook Life has never been All or Nothing- it's All and Nothing. Forget the binaries. Jeanette Winterson forget I think of love as a force of nature-as strog as the sun, as necessary, as impersonal, as gigantic, as impossible, as scorching as it is warming,as drought-making as it is life-giving. Jeanette Winterson sungivingthinking Where did love begin?What human being looked at another and saw in their face the forests and the sea? Was there a day, exhausted and weary,dragging home food, arms cut and scarred, that you saw yellow flowers and, not knowing what you did, picked them because I love you? In the fossil record of our existence, there is no trace of love. You cannot find it held in the earth's crust, waiting to be discovered. The long bones of our ancestors show nothing of their hearts. Jeanette Winterson flowerlove-youhome Words are the part of silence that can be spoken. Jeanette Winterson silence The continuous narrative of existence is a lie. There is no continuous narrative, there are lit-up moments, and the rest is dark. When you look closely, the twenty-four hour day is framed into a moment; the still-life of the jerky amphetamine world. That woman-a pieta. Those men, rough angels with an unknown message. The children holding hands, spanning time. And in every still-life, there is a story, the story that tells you everything you need to know. Jeanette Winterson angellyingchildren She had made him possible. In that sense she was his god. Like God, she was neglected. Jeanette Winterson neglectedmade If you think about something for long enough,' she explained, `more than likely, that thing will happen.' She tapped her head. `It's all in the mind. Jeanette Winterson mindlongthinking I cannot assume you will understand me. It is just as likely that as I invent what I want to say, you will invent what you want to hear. Some story we must have. Stray words on crumpled paper. A weak signal into the outer space of each other. The probability of seperate worlds meeting is very small. The lure is immense. We send starships. We fall in love Jeanette Winterson falling-in-lovespacestories That walls should fall is the consequence of blowing your own trumpet. Jeanette Winterson trumpetswallfall I fell in love once, if love be that cruelty which takes us straight to the gates of Paradise only to remind us they are closed for ever. Jeanette Winterson crueltyparadiselove-is Breathe in, breath out. Oxygen is carcinogenic and likely puts a limit on our life span. It would be unwise though, to try to extend life by not breathing at all. Which of us doesn't do it? Either we loll in anaerobic stupor, too afraid to fill our lungs with risky beauty, or we roll out fire like dragons, destroying the world we love. I try not to burn up my world with rage. It is so hard. Jeanette Winterson oxygendragonsfire Everyone thinks their own situation most tragic. I am no exception. Jeanette Winterson tragicsituationthinking Quoting her mother: The trouble with a book is you never know what's in it until it's too late! Jeanette Winterson mothertoo-latebook Louise, I would gladly fire the past for you, go and not look back. I have been reckless before, never counting the cost, oblivious to the cost. Now, I've done the sums ahead. I know what it will mean to redeem myself from the accumulations of a lifetime. I know and I don't care. You set before me a space uncluttered by association. It might be a void or it might be a release. Certainly I want to take the risk. I want to take the risk because the life I have stored up is going mouldy. Jeanette Winterson spacemeanpast It is not possible to control the outside of yourself until you have mastered your breathing space. It is not possible to change anything until you understand the substance you wish to change. Jeanette Winterson breathingspacewish No emotion is the final one. Jeanette Winterson finalsemotion I am good at walking away. Rejection teaches you how to reject. Jeanette Winterson walking-awayrejectionhurt i realize that the future, though invisible, has weight. We are in the gravitational pull of past and future. It takes huge energy -speed of light power- to break the gravitational pull. How many of us ever get free of our orbit? We tease ourselves with fancy notions of free will and self-help courses that direct our lives. We believe we can be our own miracles, and just a lottery win or Mr.right will make the world new. Jeanette Winterson winningbelievepast The ancients believed in fate because they recognized how hard it is for anyone to change anything. The pull of past and future is so strong that the present is crushed by it. We lie helpless in the force of patterns inherited and patterns re-enacted by our own behavior. The burden is intolerable. Jeanette Winterson fatestronglying
