You refuse to own yourself, you permit others to do it for you Margaret Atwood More Quotes by Margaret Atwood More Quotes From Margaret Atwood Everyone thinks writers must know more about the inside of the human head, but that's wrong. They know less, that's why they write. Trying to find out what everyone else takes for granted. Margaret Atwood writingtryingthinking Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it. Margaret Atwood handmaids-talehandmaidsignorance It's a feature of our age that if you write a work of fiction, everyone assumes that the people and events in it are disguised biography — but if you write your biography, it's equally assumed you're lying your head off. Margaret Atwood writingbooklying Which of us can resist the temptation of being thought indispensable? Margaret Atwood indispensabletemptation You can wipe your feet on me, twist my motives around all you like, you can dump millstones on my head and drown me in the river, but you can’t get me out of the story. I’m the plot, babe, and don’t ever forget it. Margaret Atwood twistsfeetrivers Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise. Margaret Atwood growing-upageinspirational Good writing takes place at intersections, at what you might call knots, at places where the society is snarled or knotted up. Margaret Atwood knotswritingmight You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up. Margaret Atwood readingwritingbook Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence. Time and distance blur the edges; then suddenly the beloved has arrived, and it's noon with its merciless light, and every spot and pore and wrinkle and bristle stands clear. Margaret Atwood distancefarewelllife I exist in two places, here and where you are. Margaret Atwood where-you-aretwo Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized. Margaret Atwood familygirlcute If your not annoying somebody, you're not alive. Margaret Atwood annoyingaliveifs I never have [suffered writer’s block], although I’ve had books that didn’t work out. I had to stop writing them. I just abandoned them. It was depressing, but it wasn’t the end of the world. When it really isn’t working, and you’ve been bashing yourself against the wall, it’s kind of a relief. I mean, sometimes you bash yourself against the wall and you get through it. But sometimes the wall is just a wall. There’s nothing to be done but go somewhere else. Margaret Atwood walldepressingblock What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed up against a wall, everything a huge foreground, of details, close-ups, hairs, the weave of the bedsheet, the molecules of the face. Your own skin like a map, a diagram of futility, criscrossed with tiny roads that lead nowhere. Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be. Margaret Atwood wallhairtwo Instead I will say, "Take me to your trees. Take me to your breakfasts, your sunsets, your bad dreams, your shoes, your nouns. Take me to your fingers; take me to your deaths." These are worth it. These are what I have come for. Margaret Atwood sunsetshoesdream Hatred would have been easier. With hatred, I would have known what to do. Hatred is clear, metallic, one-handed, unwavering; unlike love. Margaret Atwood cleareasierhatred How could I be sleeping with this particular man.... Surely only true love could justify my lack of taste. Margaret Atwood sleeprelationshipmen I am nervous about dogmas of any kind, whether they be religious, political, or anti-religious. Too many heads have rolled because of them. Margaret Atwood dogmapoliticalreligious The trickle-down theory of economics has it that it's good for rich people to get even richer because some of their wealth will trickle own, through their no doubt lavish spending, upon those who stand below them on the economic ladder. Notice that the metaphor is not that of a gushing waterfall but of a leaking tap: even the most optimistic endorsers of this concept do not picture very much real flow, as their language reveals" pg. 102. Margaret Atwood optimisticrealpeople All it takes,” said Crake, “is the elimination of one generation. One generation of anything. Beetles, trees, microbes, scientists, speakers of French, whatever. Break the link in time between one generation and the next, and it’s game over forever. Margaret Atwood gamesforevertree
