100 Top & Most Popular Margaret Atwood Quotes

1. “A word after a word after a word is power.”
2. “We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.”
3. “The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read.”
4. “Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.”
5. “I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.”
6. “A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible.”
7. “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”
8. “I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”
9. “The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection, there is no story to tell.”
10. “You’re never going to kill storytelling because it’s built into the human plan. We come with it.”
11. “I have a theory that birds are reincarnated from some kind of collective intelligence, like the internet or the library, or some cosmic archive that we don’t know about.”
12. “I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life.”
13. “Gardening is not a rational act.”
14. “The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love.”
15. “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”
16. “The desire to be loved is the last illusion of the illusionless.”
17. “The beginning of Canadian cultural nationalism was not ‘Am I really that oppressed?’ but ‘Am I really that boring?'”
18. “Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”
19. “I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary.”
20. “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
21. “The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn’t one.”
22. “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”
23. “Never pray for justice, because you might get some.”
24. “A woman’s body is not a democracy; it’s a dictatorship, and he’s the little guy with his nose pressed up against the window.”
25. “The past is so much safer, because whatever’s in it has already happened. It can’t be changed; so, in a way, there’s nothing to dread.”
26. “Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.”
27. “Guilt is a lazy feeling that takes no action.”
28. “I’m not a prophet or a stone-aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I’m living on.”
29. “Water is to me, I confess, a phenomenon which continually awakens new feelings of wonder as

30. “War is what happens when language fails.”
31. “Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse for some.”
32. “You can’t fake the core.”
33. “The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive.”
34. “You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see.”
35. “The body is a flower, sensitive and vulnerable, but the will is a gardener.”
36. “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
37. “Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow.”
38. “It’s difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you.”
39. “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”
40. “Everyone thinks they have a sense of humor, but not everyone does.”
41. “I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I can’t change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.”
42. “I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
43. “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”
44. “The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true.”
45. “The ending of a job or a relationship can appear to be the end of the world. But often what seems like the end is really a new beginning.”
46. “In the end, we’ll all become stories.”
47. “The only way to deal with fear is to face it head on.”
48. “The thing about long-term relationships is that they often evolve into shorthand.”
49. “A person is defined by the secrets they keep.”
50. “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
51. “It’s a mistake to confuse pity with love.”
52. “Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.”
53. “The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head.”
54. “You don’t look back along time but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, sometimes that, sometimes nothing.”
55. “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
56. “People think of animals as if they were machines, which is so very wrong.”
57. “There is nothing more threatening to the status quo than a woman who is unafraid to speak her mind.”
58. “The truth is, I often like women. I like their unconventionality. I like their completeness. I like their anonymity.”
59. “Never underestimate the power of a question.”
60. “There is something so beautiful about the way that we are able to connect with one another, even in the darkest of times.”
61. “I believe that everyone else my age is an adult whereas I am merely in disguise.”
62. “Love is not a profession, genteel or otherwise. It is a visceral, elemental experience. Common sense may try to dictate otherwise, but the

63. “The story of the past is always too big for the present.”
64. “You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you.”
65. “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print.”
66. “I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary.”
67. “You can’t have a person who is both loved and understood. They’re mutually exclusive.”
68. “The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn’t one.”
69. “There are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from others, and those we keep from ourselves.”
70. “The act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home.”
71. “The best conversations are the ones where you don’t have to worry about what you say next.”
72. “I’ve always been fascinated by failure. I think it’s a useful thing to examine and meditate on.”
73. “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
74. “The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”
75. “I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.”
76. “When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.”
77. “Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.”
78. “Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse for some.”
79. “The truth is a charm, but love is a sword.”
80. “The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you’ve been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil.”
81. “A word after a word after a word is power.”
82. “You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”
83. “In the end, we’ll all become stories.”
84. “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
85. “I would like to believe that there is a future for women where they are not victims of their own bodies.”
86. “The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.”
87. “No one can finally understand another’s grief, any more than one can understand another’s love.”
88. “The moment of change is the only poem.”
89. “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.”
90. “A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.”
91. “It’s time to get started on the work that needs to be done.”
92. “Fear can keep you alive. But courage makes life worth living.”
93. “The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it’s the small things that count.”
94. “People will do anything rather than admit they’ve been wrong.”
95. “What’s dangerous is not to evolve.”
96. “I hope that in this

97. “We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.”
98. “A woman’s body is her own. It is not yours, nor mine, nor the governments, nor the church’s. It is hers and hers alone.”
99. “The library is the closest thing we have to a time machine.”
100. “Never let anyone make you feel ordinary.”

FAQs:

Who is Margaret Atwood?

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author, poet, and literary critic. She is best known for her novels, including “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Alias Grace,” and “The Blind Assassin.”

When was Margaret Atwood born?

Margaret Atwood was born on November 18, 1939.

Where was Margaret Atwood born? Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

What are some of Margaret Atwood’s most famous books?

Margaret Atwood has written many books over her career, but some of her most famous titles include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Alias Grace,” “Cat’s Eye,” and “Oryx and Crake.”

What is “The Handmaid’s Tale” about?

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is a dystopian novel set in a future version of the United States where women are treated as property and used solely for reproduction. It has been adapted into a successful television series.

What awards has Margaret Atwood won?

Margaret Atwood has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She was also awarded the Order of Canada in 1981 and promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2019.

What is Margaret Atwood’s writing style?

Margaret Atwood’s writing style is known for being complex, layered, and often politically and socially engaged. She often explores themes of feminism, gender roles, and the relationship between humans and nature.

What is the “Atwoodian” style?

The “Atwoodian” style is a term coined to describe Margaret Atwood’s unique writing style, characterized by a blend of literary genres, an often-dark tone, and themes of feminism and social critique.

What is Margaret Atwood’s involvement with environmental activism?

Margaret Atwood has been involved in environmental activism for many years. She has written extensively about climate change and environmental issues and is a board member of the Climate Action Network in Canada.

What is Margaret Atwood’s legacy?

Margaret Atwood’s legacy is as a celebrated author and literary figure who has made significant contributions to Canadian and world literature. Her work has inspired and influenced countless writers and readers around the world.