Quotes from book
The Blind Assassin

The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin is a novel by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. It was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 2000. Set in Canada, it is narrated from the present day, referring to previous events that span the twentieth century.

Margaret Atwood photo

“This is how the girl who couldn't speak and the man who couldn't see fell in love.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“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

Margaret Atwood photo

“You want the truth, of course. You want me to put two and two together. But two and two doesn’t necessarily get you the truth. Two and two equals a voice outside the window. Two and two equals the wind. The living bird is not its labeled bones.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“I'm not senile," I snapped. "If I burn the house down it will be on purpose.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“It's Paradise, but we can't get out of it. And anything you can't get out of is Hell.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“Nevertheless, blood is thicker than water, as anyone knows who has tasted both.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“It wasn't so easy though, ending the war. A war is a huge fire; the ashes from it drift far, and settle slowly.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“When you're unhinged, things make their way out of you that should be kept inside, and other things get in that ought to be shut out. The locks lose their powers. The guards go to sleep. The passwords fail.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: Der blinde Mörder

Margaret Atwood photo

“Why does the mind do such things? Turn on us, rend us, dig the claws in. If you get hungry enough, they say, you start eating your own heart. Maybe it's much the same.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“She knows herself to be at the mercy of events, and she knows by now that events have no mercy.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood photo

“So much better to travel than to arrive.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin