283 Quotes by Emma Donoghue

Evolution protects those who protect themselves.

Writing stories is my way of scratching that itch: my escape from the claustrophobia of individuality. It lets me, at least for a while, live more than one life, walk more than one path. Reading, of course, can do the same.

At the balls he took me to there were many beautiful young women who didn’t say a word. They answered every question with a shrug or a smile. If champagne got spilt down their dresses they only sighed; when the full moon slid out from behind the castle they watched it in silence. I could not understand it. Had they sold their voices too? Even their bodies were silent, always upright, never loosening their lines. They walked like letters on a page.

Nursing was like being under a spell: you went in very young and came out older than any span of years could make you.

If I was made of cake I’d eat myself before somebody else could.

In the year 1752 it was announced that the second of September would be followed by the fourteenth. The matter was merely one of wording, of course; time in its substance was not to undergo any change.

If you have written something that the film people want, like a book, it does give you a way in.

Luckily Sumac has extra Rakhi in her pocket and hands them out to anyone who wants one, because really, who cares so long as the threads get tied.

At any rate, let’s not waste time on ruminations and regrets in the middle of a pandemic.