Margaret Atwood: Trending quotes

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Margaret Atwood: 696 quotes32 likes

“The animals have no need for speech, why talk when you are a word.”

Source: Surfacing

“Without the protection of surliness and levity, all children would be crushed by the past—the past of others, loaded onto their shoulders. Selfishness is their saving grace.”

Margaret Atwood

“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 book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“I am certain that a Sewing Machine would relieve as much human suffering as a hundred Lunatic Asylums, and possibly a good deal more.”

Margaret Atwood book Alias Grace

Source: Alias Grace (1996)

“I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

“You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 30 (pp. 194-195)
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
Context: (She is reciting the Lord’s prayer) Now we come to forgiveness. Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.

“But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 13
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
Context: These pictures were supposed to be erotic, and I thought they were, at the time; but I see now what they were really about. They were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom. But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men.

“There’s only so long you can feel sorry for a person before you come to feel that their affliction is an act of malice committed by them against you.”

Margaret Atwood book Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

Source: Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

“Amazing how the heart clutches at anything familiar, whimpering Mine! Mine!”

Margaret Atwood book The Year of the Flood

Source: The Year of the Flood

“All I can hope for is a reconstruction: the way love feels is always only approximate.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“But the adjectives change,” said Jimmy. “Nothing’s worse than last year’s adjectives.”

Margaret Atwood book Oryx and Crake

Source: Oryx and Crake