Margaret Atwood Quotes

You can never see yourself the way you are to someone else - to a man looking at you, from behind, when you don't know - because in a mirror your own head is always cranked around over your shoulder. A coy, inviting pose. You can hold up another mirror to see the back view, but then what you see is what so many painters have loved to paint - Woman Looking In Mirror, said to be an allegory of vanity. Though it is unlikely to be vanity, but the reverse: a search for flaws. What is it about me? can so easily be construed as What is wrong with me?

You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer.

Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ­essentially you’re on your own. ­Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.

If they want a monster so badly they ought to be provided by one.

Being here with him is safety; it's a cave, where we huddle together while the storm goes on outside. This is a delusion, of course. This room is one of the most dangerous places I could be.

The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them there ought to be as many for love.

Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult whereas I am merely in disguise.

A voice is a human gift it should be cherished and used to utter as fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.