Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā BOOK STARTERS VOL.42Ā Ā Ā ALIAS GRACEĀ Ā Ā MARGARET ATWOOD
ā If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged.Ā ā
ā When you are in the middle of a story it isnāt a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass. ā
ā Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word; - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase.Ā Ā ā
ā Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.Ā ā
ā If the world treats you well, you come to believe you are deserving of it.Ā ā
ā If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go. ā
ā Itās not easy being quiet and good, itās like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when youāve already fallen over; you donāt seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.Ā ā
ā There is no fool like an educated fool.Ā ā
ā There are many dangerous things that may take place in a bed.Ā ā
ā I am afraid of falling into hopeless despair, over my wasted life, and I am still not sure how it happened.Ā ā
ā Underneath it all is another feeling, a feeling of being wide-eyed awake and watchful. ā
ā And underneath all that is another feeling still, a feeling like being torn open; not like a body of flesh, it is not painful as such, but like a peach; and not even torn open, but ripe and splitting open of its own accord.Ā Ā ā
ā The small details of life often hide a great significance.Ā ā
ā Guilt comes to you not from the things youāve done, but from the things that others have done to you.Ā ā
ā I wonder, how can I be all of these different things at once?Ā ā
ā It is always a mistake to curse back openly at those who are stronger than you unless there is a fence between.Ā ā
ā Some call this āEveās curse,ā but I think that is stupid because the real curse of Eve was having to put up with the nonsense of Adam.Ā ā
ā I donāt know why they are all so eager to be remembered. What good will it do them? There are some things that should be forgotten by everyone, and never spoken of again.Ā ā
ā I would never blame a human creature for feeling lonely.Ā ā
ā If they want a monster so badly they ought to be provided by one.Ā ā
ā Itās as if I never existed, because no trace of me remains, I have left no marks. And that way I cannot be followed. It is almost the same as being innocent.Ā ā
ā Today you wear your habitual expression of strained anxiety; you smell of violets.Ā ā
ā Of course you have always been an idealist, and filled with your optimistic dreams; but reality must at some time obtrude. ā
ā I wonder what would become of me, and comfort myself that in a hundred years I will be dead and at peace. ā
ā For it is not always the one that strikes the blow that is the actual murderer. ā
ā There is a ādo thisā or ādo thatā with God, but not any ābecauseā.Ā ā
ā If you have a need and they find it out, they will use it against you. The best way is to stop from wanting anything.Ā ā
ā They say, why donāt you ever smile or laugh, we never see you smiling, and I say I suppose I have gotten out of the way of it, my face wonāt bend in that direction any more.Ā ā
ā I was shut up inside that doll of myself, and my true voice could not get out.Ā ā
ā I see what youāre after. You are a collector. You think all you have to do is give me an apple, and then you can collect me.Ā ā
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