quotes from classic

Speculative fiction encompasses that which we could actually do. Sci-fi is that which we're probably not going to see.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

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. I don't think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

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

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

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'.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

The thing about delirium is you think it's great, but it actually isn't.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

Before the Civil War, Canada was at the top of the underground railroad. If you made it into Canada, you were safe unless someone came and hauled you back. That was also true during the Vietnam War for draft resisters.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I particularly like Twitter, because it's short and can be very funny and informative. It's a little bit like having your own radio program.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

You're never going to kill storytelling, because it's built into the human plan. We come with it.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

There may not be one Truth - there may be several truths - but saying that is not to say that reality doesn't exist.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I learned to read very early so I could read the comics, which I then started to draw.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

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.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I'm a realist.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I think every age lives in a blend of technology so there's always older ones mixed in with newer ones, and when the new technology goes down, the immediate fallback position is either that technology just before that or one several technologies back.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I grew up with the biologists. I know how they think.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I spent much of my childhood in northern Quebec, and often there was no radio, no television - there wasn't a lot to entertain us. When it rained, I stayed inside reading, writing, drawing.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

We shouldn't be saying 'Save the planet'; we should be saying: 'Save viable conditions in which people can live.' That's what we're dealing with here.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

Science fiction, to me, has not only things that wouldn't happen, but other planets.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

Time is compressed like the fist I close on my knee... I hold inside it the clues and solutions and the power for what I must do now.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I don't think of poetry as a 'rational' activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words or phrases which appeal more because of their sound than their meaning, and the movement and phrasing of a poem are very important to me.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood

I was born in the Ottawa General Hospital right after the Gray Cup Football Game in 1939. Six months later, I was backpacked into the Quebec bush. I grew up in and out of the bush, in and out of Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto.

more quotes from Margaret Atwood