The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between... by Kate Atkinson

The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories.

Kate Atkinson

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Categorized in : Stories Ends Silence

I did feel when my mother died if anyone was going to haunt me it would be her. And she hasn't, so I think it is possibly the end.

would-be mother thinking

You can step in the same river but the water will always be new. by Kate Atkinson

You can step in the same river but the water will always be new.

steps rivers water

Life wasn't about becoming, was it? It was about being. by Kate Atkinson

Life wasn't about becoming, was it? It was about being.

Sometimes it was harder to change the past than it was the future... by Kate Atkinson

Sometimes it was harder to change the past than it was the future.

harder sometimes past

What if we had a chance to do it again and again, until we finally did get it right? Wouldn't that be wonderful?

what-if chance wonderful

Perhaps we are on an insula ex machina, an artificial place not in the real world at all -- a backdrop for the stories we must tell.

real stories world

Some people spend their whole lives looking for themselves, yet our self is the one thing we surely cannot lose (how like a cheap philosopher I am become, staying in this benighted place). From the moment we are conceived it is the pattern in our blood and our bones are printed through with it like sticks of seaside rock. Nora, on the other hand, says that she’s surprised anyone knows who they are, considering that every cell and molecule in our bodies has been replaced many times over since we were born.

rocks cells self

Sylvia loved secrets and even if she didn't have any secrets she made sure that you thought she did. Amelia had no secrets, Amelia knew nothing. When she grew up she planned to know everything and to keep it all a secret.

amelia grew-up secret

I have been to the world's end and back and now I know what I would put in my bottom drawer .I would put my sisters.

my-sister ends world

She was a terrible mother, there was no doubt about it, but she didn't even have the strength to feel guilty.

guilty doubt mother

Sometimes I would like to cry. I close my eyes. Why weren't we designed so that we can close our ears as well? (Perhaps because we would never open them.) Is there some way that I could accelerate my evolution and develop earlids?

She doesn't believe in dogs," Bridget said. "Dogs are hardly an a... by Kate Atkinson

She doesn't believe in dogs," Bridget said. "Dogs are hardly an article of faith," Sylvie said.

dog said believe

Sylvie's knowledge, like Izzie's, was random yet far-ranging, 'The sign that one has acquired one's learning from reading novels rather than an education.

reading-novels novel reading

Most people muddled through events and only in retrospect realize... by Kate Atkinson

Most people muddled through events and only in retrospect realized their significance.

retrospect events people

You must never believe everything they say about a person. Generally speaking, most of it will be lies, half-truths at best.

half believe lying

Become such as you are, having learned what that is. by Kate Atkinson

Become such as you are, having learned what that is.

No point in thinking, you just have to get on with life. We only have one after all, we should try and do our best. We can never get it right, but we must try.

should trying thinking

Why is everything an 'adventure' with you?" Sylvie said irritably to Izzie." "Because life is an adventure, of course." "I would say it was more of an endurance race," Sylvie said. "Or an obstacle course.

endurance race adventure

It was a long time ago now. And it was yesterday. by Kate Atkinson

It was a long time ago now. And it was yesterday.

long-time yesterday long

Sometimes,' Sylvie said, 'one can mistake gratitude for love. by Kate Atkinson

Sometimes,' Sylvie said, 'one can mistake gratitude for love.

gratitude mistake sometimes