The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love. -Margaret Atwood Valentinesday
I hate to tell you this, but you will never actually go to a galaxy far, far away and encounter Darth Vader. That's science fiction; it isn't going to happen. -Margaret Atwood Science
The society in 'The Handmaid's Tale' is a throwback to the early Puritans whom I studied extensively at Harvard under Perry Miller, to whom the book is dedicated. -Margaret Atwood Society
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. -Margaret Atwood Poetry
Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise. -Margaret Atwood Age
If I pick up a book with spaceships on the cover, I want spaceships. If I see one with dragons, I want there to be dragons inside the book. Proper labeling. Ethical labeling. I don't want to open up my cornflakes and find that they're full of pebbles... You need to respect the reader enough not to call it something it isn't. -Margaret Atwood Respect
Science fiction, to me, has not only things that wouldn't happen, but other planets. -Margaret Atwood Science
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. -Margaret Atwood Poetry
If social stability goes pear-shaped, you have a choice between anarchy and dictatorship. Most people will opt for more security, even if they have to give up some personal freedom. -Margaret Atwood Freedom
Please don't make the mistake of thinking that 'Oryx and Crake' is anti-science. Science is a way of knowing, and a tool. Like all ways of knowing and tools, it can be turned to bad uses. And it can be bought and sold, and it often is. But it is not in itself bad. Like electricity, it's neutral. -Margaret Atwood Science
You will always have partial points of view, and you'll always have the story behind the story that hasn't come out yet. And any form of journalism you're involved with is going to be up against a biased viewpoint and partial knowledge. -Margaret Atwood Knowledge
I tend to feel if people say they're going to do something, they will, if given the chance. -Margaret Atwood Chance
If one of the arguments against eating meat is to do with cruelty and animal intelligence, then lab meat avoids that. There's also the environmental argument for it. -Margaret Atwood Environmental
I've never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own. -Margaret Atwood Freedom
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. -Margaret Atwood Religion
Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space. -Margaret Atwood Space
I'm a strict, strict agnostic. It's very different from a casual, 'I don't know.' It's that you cannot present as knowledge something that is not knowledge. You can present it as faith, you can present it as belief, but you can't present it as fact. -Margaret Atwood Faith
Every aspect of human technology has a dark side, including the bow and arrow. -Margaret Atwood Technology
