I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when I didn’t write. I started again at 16 and have no idea why, but it was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
Religions in general have to rediscover their roots. In Hinduism and the Koran, animals are described as equals. If you walk into a cathedral and look at the decorations of early Christianity, there are vines, animals, creatures and birds thriving all over the stonework. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
There’s a difference between describing and evoking something. You can describe something and be quite clinical about it. To evoke it, you call it up in the reader. That’s what writers do when they’re good. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
I know that some books and some writers, you can pretty much draw a square around it and say, ‘Nobody under 40,’ or ‘Nobody under 25.’ With my books, it always has been, and continues to be, spread right across the board, and I think the operative term is ‘reader.’ Margaret Atwood Read Quote
You quickly find, when you are a hand-reader as I am, that nothing interests people so much as themselves. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
The threat to the planet is us. It’s actually not a threat to the planet – it’s a threat to us. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
I grew up in the north woods of Canada. You had to know certain things about survival. Wilderness survival courses weren’t very formalized when I was growing up, but I was taught certain things about what to do if I got lost in the woods. Margaret Atwood Read Quote
I’m from the generation that had the boys’ door and the girls’ door when you went to school, and you got in big trouble if you went in the wrong one. Margaret Atwood Read Quote