Quotes From "Oryx And Crake" By Margaret Atwood

He has to find more and better ways of occupying his time. His time, what a bankrupt idea, as if he's been given a box of time belonging to him alone, stuffed to the brim with hours and minutes that he can spend like money. Trouble is, the box has holes in it and the time is running out, no matter what he does with it. Margaret Atwood

When any civilization is dust and ashes, " he said, "art is all that's left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures. Meaning–human meaning, that is–is defined by them. You have to admit that. Margaret Atwood

Nature is to zoos as God is to churches. Margaret Atwood

Of course (said Oryx), having a money value was no substitute for love. Every child should have love, every person should have it. but love was undependable, it came and then it went, so it was good to have a money value, because then at least those who wanted to make a profit from you would make sure you were fed enough and not damaged too much. Also there were many who had neither love nor a money value, and having one of these things was better than having nothing. Margaret Atwood

Falling in love, although it resulted in altered body chemistry and was therefore real, was a hormonally induced delusional state, according to him. In addition it was humiliating, because it put you at a disadvantage, it gave the love object too much power. As for sex per se, it lacked both challenge and novelty, and was on the whole a deeply imperfect solution to the problem of intergenerational genetic transfer. Margaret Atwood

Sex is like a drink, it's bad to start brooding about it too early in the day. Margaret Atwood

Even sex was no longer what it had once been, though he was still as addicted to it as ever. He felt jerked around by his own dick, as if the rest of him was merely an inconsequential knob that happened to be attached to one end of it. Maybe the thing would be happier if left to roam around on its own. Margaret Atwood

Nobody wanted to be sexless, but nobody wanted to be nothing but sex. Margaret Atwood

How much misery . how much needless despair has been caused by a series of biological mismatches, a misalignment of the hormones and pheromones? Resulting in the fact that the one you love so passionately won't or can't love you. As a species we're pathetic in that way: imperfectly monogamous. If we could only pair-bond for life, like gibbons, or else opt for total guilt-free promiscuity, there'd be no more sexual torment. Better plan - make it cyclical and also inevitable, as in the other mammals. You'd never want someone you couldn't have. . Margaret Atwood

Nobody wanted to be sexless, but nobody wanted to be nothing but sex Margaret Atwood

He feels the need to hear a human voice–a fully human voice like his own. Sometimes he laughs like a hyena or roars like a lion–his idea of a hyena his idea of a lion. Margaret Atwood

When they're gone out of his head, these words, they'll be gone, everywhere, forever. As if they had never been. Margaret Atwood

They spent the first three years of school getting you to pretend stuff and then the rest of it marking you down if you did the same thing. Margaret Atwood

He keeps his voice kindly but remote. A cross between a pedagogue, soothsayer, and a benevolent uncle — that should be his tone. Margaret Atwood

You cynical shit, " he told himself. Then he started to weep." Don't be so fucking sentimental, " Crake used to tell him. But why not? Why shouldn't he be sentimental? It wasn't as if there was anyone around to question his Margaret Atwood

Every child should have love, every person should have it. She herself would rather have had her mother's love - the love she still continued to believe in, the love that had followed her through the jungle in the form of a bird so she would not be too frightened or lonely. Margaret Atwood

I love you. You're the only one." She isn't the first woman he's ever said that to. He shouldn't have used it up so much earlier in his life, he shouldn't have treated it like a tool, a wedge, a key to open women. By the time he got around to meaning it, the words had sounded fraudulent to him and he'd been ashamed to pronounce them. Margaret Atwood

You know I love you. You're the only one."" She isn't the first woman he's ever said that to. He shouldn't have used it up so much earlier in his life, he shouldn't have treated it like a tool, a wedge, a key to open women. By the time he got around to meaning it, the words sounded fraudulent to him and he'd been ashamed to pronounce them. Margaret Atwood

But if Crake wanted her to stay longer on any given night, do it again maybe, she'd make some excuse–jet lag, a headache, something plausible. Her inventions were seamless, she was the best poker-faced liar in the world, so there would be a kiss goodbye for stupid Crake, a smile, a wave, a closed door, and the next minute there she would be, with Jimmy. Margaret Atwood

The male frog, in mating season, " said Crake, "makes as much noise as it can. The females are attracted to the male frog with the biggest, deepest voice because it suggests a more powerful frog, one with superior genes. Small male frogs - it's been documented - discover that if they position themselves in empty drainpipes, the pipe acts as a voice amplifier, and the small frog appears much larger than it really is."" So?"" So that's what art is, for the artist, " said Crake. "An empty drainpipe. An amplifier. A stab at getting laid."" Your analogy falls down when it comes to female artists, " said Jimmy. "They're not in it to get laid. They'd gain no biological advantage from amplifying themselves, since potential mates would be deterred rather than attracted by this sort of amplification. Men aren't frogs, they don't want women who are ten times bigger than them."" Female artists are biologically confused, " said Crake. Margaret Atwood

So this was the rest of his life. It felt like a party to which he'd been invited, but at an address he couldn't actually locate. Someone must be having fun at it, this life of his; only, right at the moment, it wasn't him. Margaret Atwood

So that’s what art is, for the artist, ” said Crake. “An empty drainpipe. An amplifier. A stab at getting laid. Margaret Atwood

Or he’d watch the news: more plagues, more famines, more floods, more insect or microbe or small-mammal outbreaks, more droughts, more chickenshit boy-soldier wars in distant countries. Why was everything so much like itself? Margaret Atwood

There were a few other moves of his father's he could do without as well - the sucker punches, the ruffling of the hair, the way of pronouncing the word son, in a slightly deeper voice. This hearty way of talking was getting worse, as if his father were auditioning for the role of Dad, but without much hope. Margaret Atwood

You need to give money when someone gives you a knife. So the bad luck won't cut you. I wouldn't like it for you to be cut by the bad luck, Jimmy. Margaret Atwood

She wasn't stupid. She just didn't want to put her neuron power into long sentences. Margaret Atwood

[T]he mothers who had sold their children felt empty and sad. They felt as if this act, done freely by themselves (no one had forced them, no one had threatened them) had not been performed willingly. They felt cheated as well, as if the price had been too low. Why hadn't they demanded more? And yet, the mothers told themselves, they'd had no choice. Margaret Atwood