Quotes from Naomi Alderman

from the palace, a command unto the people saying "It is thus." But the other, the more certain, the more inevitable, is that those thousand thousand points of light should each send a new message. When the people change, the palace cannot hold.

I always fancied having a destiny,

A única onda que muda alguma coisa é um tsunami. É preciso deitar as casas abaixo e destruir a terra, se quisermos ter a certeza de que não cairemos no esquecimento.

Screaming as they take a hit. Laughing as they deliver one.

One had done the thing to a boy because he asked her to: this story holds much interest for the girls. Could it be that boys like it? Is it possible they want it? Some of them have found internet forums that suggest that this is the case.

Remember, if you're going to stay here, you're going to need to own the place so they can't take it from you. The only way you're safe, honeybun, is if you own it.

It feels as natural as anything she's ever done, as known and understood as the first time she had sex, as her body saying, Hey, I got this.

It is hard now, very hard, but the difficulty is familiar. Her body wants something, and she is denying

We don't have to ask ourselves what they will do if they win. We've already seen it.

she knows she can control this, it's the control that gives her pleasure, at first.

People are allowed to be weak.

It's a sort of pride to her that she watched the whole thing without wincing or looking away or carrying on.

Non conta la consapevolezza che non dovrebbe, che non lo farebbe mai. Ciò che importa è che potrebbe farlo, se volesse. Il potere di fare del male è uno stato di benessere. ... Pagina 105

No man should be told he's a god while he still lives,' he said at last. 'It doesn't promote good thinking.

Oxford is beautiful; its beauty is its plumage, its method of procreation. The beauty of the dream of Oxford, of spires and quiet learning, of the life of the mind, of effortless superiority, all these had beguiled me.

A volte penso che la mia vita sia una punizione per la mia inadeguatezza, e che l'inadeguatezza a sua volta sia una punizione. Ma penso: se Dio mi vuole punire, così sia. È un Suo diritto. Ma è mio diritto disobbedire

Ah, my dear," Aunt Jane smiles kindly, "the problem with that, you see, is that no one is ever the murdering sort until they are.

Writing is storytelling, and storytelling, after all, is play." Naomi Alderman

That's one thing about Scott—he makes everything seem simple, because in his mind everything is.

He felt a sudden sadness, hanging like a stone pendant within his throat, the cold, smooth mass preventing him from speaking.

There's never been a right choice, honeybun. The whole idea that there are two things and you have to choose is the problem.

There was no greater hypocrite than one with a high moral tone, Miss Marple reflected.

This is how we make sense of the world, by trapping it in words and sentences, by pinning it like a butterfly to a felt backcloth, killing it to keep it still, so we may trace its lines.

the answer had been the politely evasive "Families can be very complicated." Indeed they can.