Life wasn't about becoming, was it? It was about being. Kate Atkinson More Quotes by Kate Atkinson More Quotes From Kate Atkinson The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories. Kate Atkinson silence ends stories If they would all sleep all the time she wouldn't mind being their mother. Kate Atkinson mother mind sleep In the end, it is my belief, words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense. Kate Atkinson ends belief world Men had no purpose on earth whereas women were gods walking unrecognized among them. Kate Atkinson purpose earth men If people believed in eternal damnation they might not be seizing the day quite so much. Kate Atkinson damnation life people Ethics are not necessarily to do with being law-abiding. I am very interested in the moral path, doing the right thing. Kate Atkinson abiding path law I've always loved mysteries, the something there that you didn't know, and with 'Case Histories' I just decide to make that more up-front. Kate Atkinson mystery cases knows The past is what you take with you. Kate Atkinson past Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my train. 'The past's what you take with you. Kate Atkinson boards rubies past I feel as if I’m waiting for something dreadful to happen, and then I realize it already has. Kate Atkinson realizing waiting feels Ursula craved solitude but she hated loneliness, a conundrum that she couldn’t even begin to solve. Kate Atkinson conundrums solitude loneliness It wasn't that [he] believed in religion, or a God, or an afterlife. He just knew it was impossible to feel this much love and for it to end. Kate Atkinson ends impossible life I spent four years doing a doctorate in postmodern American literature. I can recognize it when I see it. Kate Atkinson four literature years What did you do when the worst thing that could happen to you had already happened - how did you live life then? You had to hand it to Theo Wyre, just carrying on living required a strength and courage that most people didn't have. Kate Atkinson live-life hands people When you chopped logs with the ax and they split open they smelled beautiful, like Christmas. But when you split someone's head open it smelled like abattoir and quite overpowered the scent of the wild lilacs you'd cut and brought into the house only this morning, which was already another life. Kate Atkinson cutting morning beautiful Whatever happens to you, embrace it, the good and the bad equally. Death is just one more thing to be embraced. Kate Atkinson whatever-happens embrace happens It's been said that the men in my books have been absent, or weak, or creepy. Kate Atkinson creepy men book Why do cats sleep so much? Perhaps they've been trusted with some major cosmic task, an essential law of physics - such as: if there are less than five million cats sleeping at any one time the world will stop spinning. Kate Atkinson cat sleep thinking Not being published would be great. When I say that to other writers they look at me as if I'm totally insane. Kate Atkinson insane would-be looks Probably not needing to be published would give me more time to think about a book. Kate Atkinson giving book thinking