1,705 Quotes by Margaret Atwood

Gavin has tried quoting Yeats to the effect that women must labour to be beautiful, but Reynolds--who used to be a passionate Yeats fan--is now of the opinion that Yeats is entitled to his point of view, but that was then and social attitudes were different then, and in actual fact Yeats is dead.

...she was afraid of losing her shape, spreading out, not being able to contain herself any longer, beginning (that would be worst of all) to talk a lot, to tell everybody, to cry.

Looking down, she became aware of the water, which was covered with a film of calcinous hard-water particles of dirt and soap, and of the body that was sitting in it, somehow no longer quite her own. All at once she was afraid that she was dissolving, coming apart layer by layer like a piece of cardboard in a gutter puddle.

Even an obvious fabrication is some comfort when you have few others.

Canlit might not exert the fascination of - say - a venereal wart.

As his editor put it, “Yeah, it’s a piece of shit, but it’s good shit.

I took care not to react. It’s a skill, not reacting.

you are as innocent as a bathtub full of bulleta

He owes me, but that could prove a liability. Some people do not enjoy being indebted.