Quotessence
Home / Authors / Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleThinkingKnowsWritingWayWantMenBookSaidHumansFeelsKindStoriesAgeLoveHas BeensLooksNeedsWomen

Famous Margaret Atwood Quotes

“There are novels that end well, but in between there are human beings acting like human beings. And human beings are not perfect. All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that's the novelists' materials. That's where they have to go. And a lot of that just isn't pretty. We like to think of ourselves as really, really good people. But look in the mirror. Really look. Look at your own mixed motives. And then multiply that.”

PeopleThinkingHumansWellsLooksMayEndsHuman BeingsPerfectActingNovelMaterialsMirrorsNovelistsMotiveGood PeopleNot Perfect
Author:Margaret Atwood
Create image

“A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason. Think of it as the altar of the Muse Oblivion, to whom you sacrifice your botched first drafts, the tokens of your human imperfection.”

ThinkingWritingFirstsHumansReasonProcessSacrificeBuiltImperfectionMuseOblivionAltarsRatiosTokensHuman Imperfection
Book:Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose: 1983-2005
Create image

“When we cracked the genetic DNA code, opened the big Pandora's box, and it really did become possible to produce chimeras, my ears shot up. Having been brought up among the biologists and having followed various debates about ways to improve the human template and other debates about the true nature of our nature, I began seriously to wonder: What if? We hold in our hands a tool that is more powerful - for good or ill - than any we have wielded before.”

IfsWayHumansHandsBigsPowerfulWonderProduceShotsToolsEarsIllBoxesVariousDebateCodeWhat IfDnaTrue NatureCrackedBiologistPandoraChimeraPandora's Box
Author:Margaret Atwood
Create image

“Plague has hung over human history. The biggest human extinction was after 1492 in North and South America when the mortality rate was 95 per cent, which is enormous. But again, I'm actually giving you grounds for optimism: There were enough to continue. The five per cent who made it through are what you need to survive a bottleneck, which we have been through before.”

NeedsGivingHumansHas BeensMadeEnoughAmericaFiveOptimismSouthRateEnormousMade ItMortalityCentsHungExtinctionPlagueHuman HistorySouth AmericaNorth And SouthBottlenecks
Author:Margaret Atwood
Create image

“We want to get there faster. Get where? Wherever we are not. But a human soul can only go as fast as a man can walk, they used to say. In that case, where are all the souls? Left behind. They wander here and there, slowly, dim lights flickering in the marshes at night, looking for us. But they're not nearly fast enough, not for us, we're way ahead of them, they'll never catch up. That's why we can go so fast: our souls don't weigh us down.”

MenWayWantHumansSoulEnoughLightUsedNightLeftWalksBehindsCasesWanderFasterLeft BehindHuman SoulHere And ThereMarshes
Author:Margaret Atwood
Create image

“He's lost something, some illusion I used to think was necessary to him. He's come to realize he too is human. Or is this a performance, for my benefit, to show me he's up-to-date? Maybe men shouldn't have been told about their own humanity. It's only made them uncomfortable. It's only made them trickier, slier, more evasive, harder to read.”

ThinkingMenHumansHas BeensMadeShowsUsedHumanityLostRealizingBenefitsIllusionPerformancesHarderUncomfortableShow MeUp To Date
Author:Margaret Atwood
Create image

“Men are not to be told anything they might find too painful; the secret depths of human nature, the sordid physicalities, might overwhelm or damage them. For instance, men often faint at the sight of their own blood, to which they are not accustomed. For this reason you should never stand behind one in the line at the Red Cross donor clinic.”

MenShouldHumansReasonMightPainLinesSecretBehindsBloodHuman NatureRedCrossesSightDepthPainfulInstanceDamageAccustomedPhysicalityDonorsClinicRed Cross
Book:Bluebeard's Egg
Create image

“Walking was not fast enough, so we ran. Running was not fast enough, so we galloped. Galloping was not fast enough, so we sailed. Sailing was not fast enough, so we rolled merrily along on long metal tracks. Long metal tracks were not fast enough, so we drove. Driving was not fast enough, so we flew. Flying isn't fast enough for us. We want to get there faster. Get where? Wherever we are not. But a human soul can only go as fast as a man can walk, they used to say. In that case, where are all the souls? Left behind.”

MenWantHumansLongSoulEnoughRunningUsedLeftWalksBehindsCasesWalkingTrackDrivingFlyingFasterRanMetalsSailingLeft BehindHuman SoulFlewGalloping
Book:The Tent
Create image