Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does. Margaret Atwood More Quotes by Margaret Atwood More Quotes From Margaret Atwood I grew up amongst biologists. Margaret Atwood biologist grew grew-up Come away with me, he said, we will live on a desert island. I said, I am a desert island. It was not what he had in mind. Margaret Atwood desert mind islands Every habit he's ever had is still there in his body, lying dormant like flowers in the desert. Given the right conditions, all his old addictions would burst into full and luxuriant bloom. Margaret Atwood recovery flower lying If a god showed up every time you put a quarter in the prayer slot it wouldn't be God, it would be a puppet that you could control by doing that...that would make the deity subservient to you. So it wouldn't be a deity would it? Margaret Atwood puppets prayer would-be For me the experience of writing is really an experience of losing control.... I think it's very much like dreaming or like surfing. You go out there and wait for a wave, and when it comes it takes you somewhere and you don't know where it'll go. Margaret Atwood dream writing thinking Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead, I've found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them. Margaret Atwood difficult dangerous found You meet the same people on the way down that you meet on the way up, but you're going the other way. Margaret Atwood people way Fatigue is here, in my body, in my legs and eyes. That is what gets you in the end. Faith is only a word, embroidered. Margaret Atwood legs body eye What breaks in daybreak? Is it the night? Is it the sun, cracked in two by the horizon like an egg, spilling out light? Margaret Atwood eggs light night You're never going to kill storytelling, because it's built into the human plan. We come with it. Margaret Atwood storyteller storytelling plans Love's never a fair trade. Margaret Atwood fair-trade trade love If it's a story I'm telling, then I have control over the ending... But if it's a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don't tell a story only to yourself. There's always someone else. Even when there is no one. Margaret Atwood ifs stories In Heaven, there are no debts - all have been paid, one way or another - but in Hell there's nothing but debts, and a great deal of payment is exacted, though you can't ever get all paid up. You have to pay, and pay, and keep on paying. So Hell is like an infernal maxed-out credit card that multiplies the charges endlessly. Margaret Atwood cards heaven way But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing. Margaret Atwood legs remember lying What is it the I'll want from you? Not love: that would be too much to ask. Not forgiveness, which isn't yours to bestow. Only a listener, perhaps; only someone who will see me. Don't prettify me though, whatever else you do: I have no wish to be a decorated skull. But I leave myself in your hands. What choice do I have? By the time you read this last page, that- if anywhere- is the only place I will be. Margaret Atwood skulls choices hands Myths can't be translated as they did in their ancient soil. We can only find our own meaning in our own time. Margaret Atwood myth ancient soil If you DJ reality, that is, if you make a mash-up of actual reality, you're going to end up with something that inevitably people will say, "This is feminist." Because you cannot avoid that. Margaret Atwood feminist reality people I don't want to look at something that determines me so completely. Margaret Atwood handmaids-tale want looks I used to act in college, but always comedy. Didn't do [William] Shakespeare - did Ben Jonson. Margaret Atwood comedy used college People talking about politics usually start from the ass end backwards in that they think you have a political agenda, and then you make your work fit that cookie cutter. It's the other way around. One works by simple observation, looking into things. It's usually called insight and out of that comes your view - not that you have the view first and then squash everything to make it fit. I'm not interested in cutting the feet off my characters or stretching them to make them fit my certain political view. Margaret Atwood cutting simple character
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