47 Most Inspiring Margaret Atwood Quotes (POET)

Top 8 Most Famous Margaret Atwood Quotes (BEST)

I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one 'race' - the human race - and that we are all members of it. — I **hope** that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‘race’ – the human race – and that we are all members of it.

War is what happens when language fails.

Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I’m a realist. — **Optimism** means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I’m a realist.

A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together. — A voice is a human **gift**; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.

An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness.

I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary.

Nothing makes me more nervous than people who say, ‘It can’t happen here.’ Anything can happen anywhere, given the right circumstances.

The artist doesn’t necessarily communicate. The artist evokes… [It] actually doesn’t matter what I feel. What matters is how the art makes you feel. — The artist doesn’t necessarily **communicate**. The artist evokes… [It] actually doesn’t matter what I feel. What matters is how the art makes you feel.

4 Margaret Atwood Quotes on Science and Technology

Science is a tool, and we invent tools to do things we want. It's a question of how those tools are used by people. — Science is a tool, and we invent tools to do things we want. It’s a question of how those tools are used by people.

People use technology only to mean digital technology. Technology is actually everything we make. — People use **technology** only to mean digital technology. Technology is actually everything we make.

Social media is called social media for a reason. It lends itself to sharing rather than horn-tooting.

Science and fiction both begin with similar questions What if Why How does it all work But they focus on different areas of life on earth. — Science and fiction both begin with similar questions: What if? Why? How does it all work? But they focus on different areas of life on earth.

7 Margaret Atwood Quotes on Women and Gender Equality

Men often ask me, 'Why are your female characters so paranoid' It’s not paranoia. It’s recognition of their situation. — Men often ask me, ‘Why are your female characters so paranoid?’ It’s not paranoia. It’s recognition of their situation.

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly. — We still think of a powerful man as a born **leader** and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

What is believed in society is not always the equivalent of what is true; but as regards to a woman’s reputation, it amounts to the same thing. — What is believed in society is not always the equivalent of what is true; but as regards to a woman’s **reputation**, it amounts to the same thing.

Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.

A man is just a woman's strategy for making other women. — A man is just a woman’s strategy for making other women.

If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.

7 Margaret Atwood Quotes that Will Make You Think

“You know the myth: Everybody had to fit into Procrustes’ bed and if they didn’t, he either stretched them or cut off their feet. I’m not interested in cutting the feet off my characters or stretching them to make them fit my certain point of view.”
Margaret Atwood

Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.

A word after a word after a word is power.

Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself. — You can only be **jealous** of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.

Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some. — Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.

Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.

7 Margaret Atwood Quotes About Life

“There’s no shame in backtracking. There’s no shame in revision. There’s no shame in realizing that you got it wrong, or that there’s a better thing you can do that’s better than what you have done.”
Margaret Atwood

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

I've never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own. — I’ve never understood why people consider youth a **time** of **freedom** and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.

“But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.”
Margaret Atwood

When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that. — When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.

“If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you’d be doomed. You’d be ruined as God. You’d be a stone. You’d never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You’d never love anyone, ever again. You’d never dare to.”
Margaret Atwood

Every utopia - let's just stick with the literary ones - faces the same problem What do you do with the people who don't fit in? — Every utopia – let’s just stick with the literary ones – faces the same problem: What do you do with the people who don’t fit in?

2 Margaret Atwood Quotes on Love

“Love blurs your vision; but after it recedes, you can see more clearly than ever. It’s like the tide going out, revealing whatever’s been thrown away and sunk: broken bottles, old gloves, rusting pop cans, nibbled fishbodies, bones. This is the kind of thing you see if you sit in the darkness with open eyes, not knowing the future.”
Margaret Atwood

A divorce is like an amputation you survive it, but there's less of you. — A divorce is like an amputation: you survive it, but there’s less of you.

12 Margaret Atwood Quotes on Books and Writing

“When I was young I believed that ‘nonfiction’ meant ‘true.’ But you read a history written in, say, 1920 and a history of the same events written in 1995 and they’re very different. There may not be one Truth—there may be several truths—but saying that is not to say that reality doesn’t exist.”
Margaret Atwood

All writers feel struck by the limitations of language. All serious writers. — All **writers** feel struck by the limitations of language. All serious writers.

“I don’t know whether there are any really pretty novels… All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that’s the novelists’ material… 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.”
Margaret Atwood

I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most. — I **read** for pleasure and that is the moment I **learn** the most.

“The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation.”
Margaret Atwood

If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word.

“[Everyone] ‘writes’ in a way; that is, each person has a ‘story’—a personal narrative—which is constantly being replayed, revised, taken apart and put together again. The significant points in this narrative change as a person ages—what may have been tragedy at 20 is seen as comedy or nostalgia at 40.”
Margaret Atwood

A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason. — A ratio of **failures** is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason.

“It put a lot of kids onto reading; it made reading cool. I’m sure a lot of later adult book clubs came out of that experience. Let people begin where they are rather than pretending that they’re something else, or feeling that they should be something else.”
Margaret Atwood

You become a writer by writing. There is no other way. So do it. Do it more. Do it again. Do it better. Fail. Fail better. — You become a writer by **writing**. There is no other way. So do it. Do it more. Do it again. Do it better. Fail. Fail better.

“All fiction is about people, unless it’s about rabbits pretending to be people. It’s all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through time and changes taking place, and that’s what we call ‘the plot’.”
Margaret Atwood

“I don’t think the writing life is like deciding you’re going to be a lawyer or a dentist, it’s not that kind of decision. I think it’s something that you already—you’re already on that path before you know it—and you discover it, but I think that if you have to stand back and say, “should I be a writer or should I not be a writer?” If you’re doing that, then the answer is probably, “I should not be.”
Margaret Atwood