Poetry isn't written from the idea down. It's written from the phrase, line and stanza up, which is different from what your… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
The idea of the chickens with the multiple breasts and thighs came from an urban legend that some fast-food places had developed… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
No mother is ever, completely, a child's idea of what a mother should be, and I suppose it works the other way… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
Everybody acts as if they have free will. They act as if they can make these decisions; do they know they don't?… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
At the very least we want a witness. We can't stand the idea of our own voices falling silent finally, like a… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
Glenn used to say the reason you can't really imagine yourself being dead was that as soon as you say, 'I'll be… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
Some of the old diseases that we think are gone - case in point, measles - are back, now that somebody has… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
I look up at the ceiling, tracing the foliage of the wreath. Today it makes me think of a hat, the large-brimmed… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
For every age there is a popular idea about what madness is, what causes it, and how a mad person should look… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
He has to find more and better ways of occupying his time. His time, what a bankrupt idea, as if he's been… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
Why is it we want so badly to memorialize ourselves? Even while we're still alive. We wish to assert our existence, like… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
No more photos. Surely there are enough. No more shadows of myself thrown by light onto pieces of paper, onto squares of… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“I'm fine," said Pilar, "for the moment. And the moment is the only time we can be fine in.” — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
And yet it disturbs me to learn I have hurt someone unintentionally. I want all my hurts to be intentional. — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“Mary: Some call this "Eve's curse," but I think that is stupid because the real curse of Eve was having to put up with… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“The birds were singing around me, but I reflected that the very birds were strangers to me, for I did not even know their… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“Strange how we decorate pain. These ribbons, for instance, and the small hard teardrops of blood. Who are they for? Do we think the… — margaret atwood Copy Share Image
I wanted to forget the past, but it refused to forget me; it waited for sleep, then cornered me. — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“Back at home they drew the curtains and read, with disapproval, with relish, with avidity and glee - even the ones who'd never thought… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“Simon walks back to the house alone. The night is clear and warm, with a moon, almost full, enclosed in a nimbus of mist;… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“There is indeed something delightful about being able to combine obedience and disobedience in the same act.” — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
“Every time the women appear, Snowman is astonished all over again. They're every known colour from the deepest black to whitest white, they're various… — Margaret Atwood Copy Share Image
