“ I feel despised there, for having so little money; also for once having had so much. I never actually had it, of course. Father had it, and then Richard. But money was imputed to me, the same way crim… Margaret Atwood
“ I don't want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin. That is what it comes down to. I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat. Something I lack. Margaret Atwood
“ I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going… Margaret Atwood
“ I didn’t want to identify the body, or see it at all. If you don’t see the body, it’s easier to believe nobody’s dead. Margaret Atwood
“ I did not yet know that my lack of enjoyment - my distaste, my suffering even - would be considered normal and even desirable by my husband. He was one of those men who felt that if a woman did not ex… Margaret Atwood
“ I did not pity her at all. In a way I admired her. I admired her lack of compunction, the courage of her bad manners, the energy of simple rage. Throwing a bag of spaghetti had a simplicity to it, a r… Margaret Atwood
“ I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely. Margaret Atwood
“ Human society, they claimed, was a sort of monster, its main byproducts being corpses and rubble. It never learned, it made the same cretinous mistakes over and over, trading short-term gain for long-… Margaret Atwood
“ How soon before there are ancient texts they feel they have to obey but have forgotten how to interpret? Margaret Atwood
“ Home is where the heart is, I thought now, gathering myself together in Betty's Luncheonette. I had no heart any more, it had been broken; or not broken, it simply wasn't there any more. It had been s… Margaret Atwood
“ History, as I recall, was never this winsome, and especially not this clean, but the real thing would never sell: most people prefer a past in which nothing smells. Margaret Atwood
“ His view of the world featured swift disasters set against a background of lurking doom, my cooking did nothing to contradict it. Margaret Atwood
“ His mother said that all children were arsonists at heart, and if not for the lighter he’d have used matches. Margaret Atwood
“ Here and there are worms, evidence of the fertility of the soil, caught by the sun, half dead; flexible and pink, like lips. Margaret Atwood
“ Her face might be kindly if she would smile. But the frown isn't personal: it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of ba… Margaret Atwood
“ Heaven, for the Presbyterians, must resemble a banking establishment, with each soul tagged and docketed, and placed in the appropriate pigeonhole. Margaret Atwood
“ He's humanoid, he's hominid, he's an aberration, he's abominable; he'd be legendary, if there were anyone left to relate legends. Margaret Atwood
