When I was 16, I started publishing all kinds of things in school magazines. Margaret Atwood More Quotes by Margaret Atwood More Quotes From Margaret Atwood I'm a novelist, and idle speculation is what novelists do. How odd to spend one's life trying to pretend that non-existent people are real: though no odder, I suppose, than what government bureaucrats do, which is trying to pretend that real people are non-existent. Margaret Atwood government real people All fathers are invisible in daytime; daytime is ruled by mothers and fathers come out at night. Darkness brings home fathers, with their real, unspeakable power. There is more to fathers than meets the eye. Margaret Atwood daughter mother father The best way of being kind to bears is not to be very close to them. Margaret Atwood be-kind bears way we lived in the gaps between the stories Margaret Atwood handmaids-tale gaps stories I don't know why they are all so eager to be remembered. What good will it do them? There are some things that should be forgotten by everyone, and never spoken of again. Margaret Atwood remembered should forgotten Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing. Margaret Atwood departing train All observations of life are harsh, because life is. I lament that fact, but I cannot change it. Margaret Atwood harsh life-is facts The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one. Margaret Atwood keeping-secrets secret way We battled in secret, undeclared, and after a while I no longer fought back because I never won. The only defense was flight, invisibility. Margaret Atwood invisibility defense secret They will not let you have peace, they don't want you to have anything they don't have themselves. Margaret Atwood want peace I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it. Margaret Atwood despite one-thing expectation isn't the same as desire Margaret Atwood expectations desire And consider: it is loss to which everything flows, absence in which everything flowers Margaret Atwood flow flower loss A language is everything you do. Margaret Atwood language They seemed to be able to choose. We seemed to be able to choose, then. We were a society dying of too much choice. Margaret Atwood able choices dying Don't misunderstand me. I am not scoffing at goodness, which is far more difficult to explain than evil, and far more complicated. But sometimes it's hard to put up with. Margaret Atwood complicated evil sometimes Even an obvious fabrication is some comfort when you have few others. Margaret Atwood fabrication obvious comfort You shouldn't do that," said Laura. "You could set yourself on fire. Margaret Atwood laura ambition fire I'm not senile," I snapped. "If I burn the house down it will be on purpose. Margaret Atwood senile purpose house I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. Margaret Atwood accomplishment mean thinking