Bodily Harm Quotes

The best quotes by the author we have brought to you

“A profile used to mean a picture of somebody’s nose seen from the side, she wrote. Now it means the picture of somebody’s nose seen from the bottom.” (Bodily Harm Quotes)
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“As a child I learned three things well: how to be quiet, what not to say, and how to look at things without touching them. When I think of that house I think of the objects and silences. The silences of that house were almost visible; I pictured them as grey, hanging in the air like smoke. I learned to listen for what wasn’t being said, because it was usually more important than what was. My grandmother was the best at silences. According to her, it was bad manners to ask direct questions.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“Daniel, who at this point was still Dr. Luoma, looked at her as if he was disappointed in her: other women no doubt said similar things. This embarrassed her, since even such a short time ago she still assumed she was unique.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“He thought Rennie knew things she didn’t know but ought to; he thought she lived in the real world. It pleased him to believe this, and Rennie wanted him to be pleased, she liked to amuse him, though she was afraid that sooner or later he would decide that the things she knew weren’t really worth knowing.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“I’m sitting there with my hair not brushed and I really have to pee, but I don’t want to interrupt him because he obviously finds this important, and I’m thinking, I’ve heard this before, only it used to be women saying it to men. I can’t believe it! And I’m thinking do I want a long-term meaningful relationship with this guy? And then I’m thinking, does he have anything to offer besides sex?

Well, the answer was no. But that didn’t used to matter, did it. How come it matters all of a sudden? Why do we have to start respecting their minds?”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“It’s all right, he said. It was malignant but I think we got it all. He was telling her that he has saved her life, for the time being anyway, and now he was dragging her back into it, this life that he had saved. By the hand. Malignant, Rennie thought.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“Laugh and the world laughs with you, said my grandmother. Cry and you cry alone.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“Life is just another sexually transmitted social disease.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm

“Rennie can see what she is now: she’s an object of negotiation. The truth about knights comes suddenly clear: the maidens were only an excuse. The dragon was the real business. So much for vacation romances, she thinks. A kiss is just a kiss, Jocasta would say, and you’re lucky if you don’t get trenchmouth.”
Margaret Atwood
Bodily Harm