Quotes by Margaret Atwood

The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.

If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.

I tend to feel if people say theyre going to do something, they will, if given the chance.

Im a strict, strict agnostic. Its very different from a casual, I dont know. Its that you cannot present as knowledge something that is not knowledge. You can present it as faith, you can present it as belief, but you cant present it as fact.

You will always have partial points of view, and youll always have the story behind the story that hasnt come out yet. And any form of journalism youre involved with is going to be up against a biased viewpoint and partial knowledge.

Science fiction is filled with Martians and space travel to other planets, and things like that.

Gardening is not a rational act.

Every aspect of human technology has a dark side, including the bow and arrow.

The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I dont think I solve problems in my poetry I think I uncover the problems.

When I am writing fiction, I believe I am much better organized, more methodical - one has to be when writing a novel. Writing poetry is a state of free float.

I dont think of poetry as a rational activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words or phrases which appeal more because of their sound than their meaning, and the movement and phrasing of a poem are very important to me.

The society in The Handmaids Tale is a throwback to the early Puritans whom I studied extensively at Harvard under Perry Miller, to whom the book is dedicated.

Ive never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. Its probably because they have forgotten their own.

If social stability goes pear-shaped, you have a choice between anarchy and dictatorship. Most people will opt for more security, even if they have to give up some personal freedom.

“Time folds you in its arms and gives you one last kiss, and then it flattens you out and folds you up and tucks you away until its time for you to become someone elses past time, and then time folds again.”

“Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space. If you can bend space you can bend time also, and if you knew enough and could move faster than light you could travel backward in time and exist in two places at once.”

“He has to find more and better ways of occupying his time. His time, what a bankrupt idea, as if hes been given a box of time belonging to him alone, stuffed to the brim with hours and minutes that he can spend like money. Trouble is, the box has holes in it and the time is running out, no matter what he does with it.”

“Time: old cold time, old sorrow, settling down in layers like silt in a pond.”

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.”

“The truth is seldom welcome, especially at dinner.”