A Quote by Margaret Atwood

A lot of being a poet consists of willed ignorance. If you woke up from your trance and realized the nature of the life-threatening and dignity-destroying precipice you were walking along, you would switch into actuarial sciences immediately.

Margaret Atwood

Quote Topics

Along Being Consists Destroying Dignity Ignorance Immediately Life Life-Threatening Lot Nature Poet Precipice Realized Sciences Switch Threatening Trance Up Walking Were Woke Would Your

Quote Author

Margaret Atwood
Canadian - Novelist
Born: November 18, 1939

I used to have nightmares when I was a little kid that I woke up prematurely and opened all the Christmas presents. And then I would be so relieved when I woke up and I realized that I hadn't done it.

Claire Danes

You're immortal, aren't you, until you get a little peek over the precipice. The thought of death...You're not supposed to start pondering it until you're old. And there's nothing like being told you've got a life-threatening disease to concentrate your mind on that.

Timothy Spall

I woke up one morning and realized that what I wanted to say to everyone - children, young people, adults - was: Read for your life.

Katherine Paterson

As 'Octomom,' I was the walking dead. When I woke up and I went back to my roots, my helping profession, and my kids, we were struggling financially, but it didn't matter. I never felt so free and so happy in my life.

Nadya Suleman

As he looked up at the clouds or down at the precipice, he realized that this woman was the most important thing in his life; that she was the explanation, the sole reason for the existence of those rocks, that sky, that winter. If she were not there with him, it wouldn't matter if all the angels of heaven came flying down to comfort him--Paradise would make no sense.

Paulo Coelho

When I started 'Hudson Hawk,' I realized I was dealing with a strong-willed producer, a strong-willed actor, and, at times, a strong-willed studio, and I was the junior partner in all of this - the guy who hadn't proven anything in terms of box-office success.

Michael Lehmann

When you have your own bus, then you have dignity. When you have your own school, you have dignity. When you have your own country, you have dignity.When you have something of your own, you have dignity. But whenever you are begging for a chance to participate in that which belongs to someone else, or use that which belongs to someone else, on an equal basis with the owner, that's not dignity. That's ignorance.

Malcolm X

Poetry is like walking along a little, tiny, narrow ridge up on a precipice. You never know the next step, whether there's going to be a plunge. I think poetry is dangerous. There's nothing mild and predictable about poetry.

Josephine Jacobsen

You were ambitious - for your life, what it was like when you woke up in the morning, and not for some attainment. Like most people who did not answer a particular calling from an early age, you placed work beside yourself; any occupation would fill up your day but not your heart. I liked that about you. I liked it enormously.

Lionel Shriver

The U.S. has a long history of walking up to the precipice of rigor and then walking away. As voters, let's support leaders who were courageous enough to make the hard decisions necessary to move our system forward. And as parents, let's put our faith in our educators, our children and tests that hold them to their highest potential.

Wendy Kopp

I woke up and realized life is great and people are awesome and life is worth living.

Hulk Hogan

My da used to sing 'Take Her Up to Monto' to me when we were walking down the street - he still does, actually - because it's got a walking tempo, and I still sing it to myself when I'm walking along.

Roisin Murphy

If you woke up each morning, and immediately dwelt on your ills, what sort of a day could you look forward to?

Maeve Binchy

I love walking in the woods, on the trails, along the beaches. I love being part of nature. I love walking alone. It is therapy. One needs to be alone, to recharge one's batteries.

Grace Kelly

Imagine you are walking along, and you trip over something and you turn around and find that it is a huge diamond. You would pick it up and do everything in your power to take care of that diamond because it might take care of you for the rest of your life.