Reading is perception as translation. The inert signs of an alphabet become living meanings in the mind. Siri Hustvedt More Quotes by Siri Hustvedt More Quotes From Siri Hustvedt The old story is true:Women have to be less emotional than men. Siri Hustvedt true-woman emotional men It is fascinating to me that when the lists of the great writers are trotted out year after year, you often find lists without a single woman mentioned. Siri Hustvedt single-women lists years Many writers over the centuries simply do not have the reputations they deserve because they were female, and that is an act of suppression. Siri Hustvedt reputation female century Men generally do not see women as competition. Siri Hustvedt competition men Demonstration of mastery gives a feeling of power and that feeling of power is a good feeling. Siri Hustvedt feelings giving Each person does see the world in a different way. There is not a single, unifying, objective truth. We're all limited by our perspective. Siri Hustvedt perspective truth way world My greatest pleasure is spending time with my family: my husband and daughter, but also my mother, my three sisters, and their families. Siri Hustvedt family daughter mother time I've come to understand that migraine is a part of the personality. I have migraine troughs. These often follow high productivity. I have a hypo-manic phase, then I'll crash. Siri Hustvedt follow high understand personality Creativity has always depended on openness and flexibility, so let us hope for more of both in the future. Siri Hustvedt always future creativity hope American mass media culture, with its celebrities, shopping hysteria, sound bites, formulaic plots, received ideas, and nauseating repetitions, depresses me. Siri Hustvedt me shopping culture ideas I am convinced that during bouts of insomnia, I have sometimes slept without knowing it. Siri Hustvedt without i-am knowing sometimes When I don't get enough sleep, I am cranky, vulnerable to headaches, and my concentration is poor. Siri Hustvedt i-am poor enough sleep I garden. It's very relaxing to me. Siri Hustvedt relaxing very me garden In August of 2002, I survived a car accident. Although I can still see the van speeding toward us, I cannot bring to mind the crash itself - only its aftermath. Siri Hustvedt see car i-can mind Sleep resistance, bouts of insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, crawling into bed with parents in the middle of the night - all these are so common among children, it seems fair to call them 'normal.' Siri Hustvedt parents sleep night children It is tempting to think of this form of insomnia, the inability to fall asleep, as a disease of agency and control: the inability to relinquish high self-reflexive consciousness for the vulnerable, ignorant regions of slumber in which we know not what we do. Siri Hustvedt control think know fall It's thought that about 96% of us have visual imagery, and there's a very tiny minority in the population, some of whom are normal, some of whom have brain lesions, who cannot produce visual imagery. Siri Hustvedt us some thought brain I have suffered from migraines since childhood and have long been curious about my own aching head, my dizziness, my divine lifting feelings, my sparklers and black holes, and my single visual hallucination of a little pink man and a pink ox on the floor of my bedroom. Siri Hustvedt man childhood black long I watched 'Holiday' in college, and that was when I had my first fantasy of being Katharine Hepburn, standing at the top of the staircase in a huge Hollywood mansion. Siri Hustvedt fantasy holiday standing college As one of four daughters, I grew up with an imaginary brother - wondering what it would have been like if one of us had been a boy. There's no question that there was a phantom boy child in my imagination when I was young. Siri Hustvedt boy child imagination brother