Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence. Time and distance blur the edges; then suddenly the beloved has arrived, and it's noon with its merciless light, and every spot and pore and wrinkle and bristle stands clear.
("The Blind Assassin")
More Quotes from Margaret Atwood:
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.Margaret Atwood
But in the closeness of the sewing room, Simon can smell her as well as look at her. He tries to pay no attention but her scent is a distracting undercurrent. She smells like smoke; smoke, and laundry soap, and the salt from her skin; and she smells of the skin itself, with its undertone of dampness, fullness, ripeness - what? Ferns and mushrooms; fruits crushed and fermenting.
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They seemed to be able to choose. We seemed to be able to choose, then. We were a society dying of too much choice.
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Murderess, murderess, he whispers to himself. It has an allure, a scent almost. Hothouse gardenias. Lurid, but also furtive. He imagines himself breathing it as he draws Grace towards him, pressing his mouth against her. Murderess. He applies it to her throat like a brand.
Margaret Atwood
We understand more than we know.
Margaret Atwood
I suppose it's everyone's fate to be reduced to quaintness by those younger than themselves.
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