The structure of 'March' was laid down for me before the first line was written, because my character has to exist within Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women' plotline. Geraldine Brooks More Quotes by Geraldine Brooks More Quotes From Geraldine Brooks A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand. Geraldine Brooks mindbookhands There are always a few who stand up in times of communal madness and have the courage to say that what unites us is greater than what divides us. Geraldine Brooks dividesmadnessgreater To know a man's library is, in some measure, to know a man's mind. Geraldine Brooks mindattitudemen She was like a butterfly, full of color and vibrancy when she chose to open her wings, yet hardly visible when she closed them. Geraldine Brooks butterflycolorwings Certainly I'm still mining my experiences as a journalist. I think it's no coincidence that all three of my novels basically are about how people act in a time of catastrophe. Do they go to their best self or their worst self? Geraldine Brooks selfpeoplethinking You go on. You set one foot in front of the other, and if a thin voice cries out, somewhere behind you, you pretend not to hear, and keep going. Geraldine Brooks persistenceperseverancevoice We were too intelligent, too cynical for war. Of course, you don't have to be stupid and primitive to die a stupid, primitive death. Geraldine Brooks intelligentstupidwar Instead of idleness, vanity, or an intellect formed by the spoon-feeding of others, my girls have acquired energy, industry, and independence. Geraldine Brooks independencevanitygirl I think probably the scaredest I've ever been was in Somalia. I arrived there when the episode that became known as 'Black Hawk Down' was still taking place. The Americans were still pinned down under fire. And everybody else was basically going the other way, and I was the only one putting my hand up for a flight in. Geraldine Brooks firehandsthinking The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure. Geraldine Brooks historicalimaginationfiction The great thing about being always among people of noble manners was the inevitable elevation of one's own. Geraldine Brooks noblemannerspeople The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads. Geraldine Brooks realheromoving I'm a praying atheist. When I hear an ambulance siren, I ask for a blessing for those people in trouble, knowing that no one's listening. I think it's just a habit of mindfulness. Geraldine Brooks atheistblessingthinking Who is the brave man--he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination. Geraldine Brooks imaginationfearmen If there is one class of person I have never quite trusted, it is a man who knows no doubt. Geraldine Brooks doubtclassmen If a man is to lose his fortune, it is a good thing if he were poor before he acquired it, for poverty requires aptitude. Geraldine Brooks aptitudepovertymen It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. The past may be another country. But the only passport required is empathy. Geraldine Brooks writingcountrypast Write what you know. Every guide for the aspiring author advises this. Because I live in a long-settled rural place, I know certain things. I know the feel of a newborn lamb's damp, tight-curled fleece and the sharp sound a well-bucket chain makes as it scrapes on stone. But more than these material things, I know the feelings that flourish in small communities. And I know other kinds of emotional truths that I believe apply across the centuries. Geraldine Brooks emotionalwritingbelieve Despair is a cavern beneath our feet and we teeter on its very brink. Geraldine Brooks cavernsdespairfeet Yes, it seems we've got this mutant gene in our human personality that makes us susceptible to this same kind of mistake over and over again. It's really uncanny how we build these beautiful multicultural edifices and then allow this switch to be flipped and everybody goes, 'Oh, the other, get them out of here. Geraldine Brooks personalitymistakebeautiful
