Quotes from Naomi Alderman

because, honestly, which of us really understands why we do the things we do?

Scott once said to me that you belong in three places: the place you grew up, the place where you went to college, and the place where the person you love is. I'd add a fourth component to that: the place where you first sought professional psychological help.

The shape of power is always the same; it is the shape of a tree. Root to tip, central trunk branching and re-branching, spreading wider in ever-thinner, searching fingers. The shape of power is the outline of a living thing straining outward, sending its fine tendrils a little further, and a little further yet.

People make what they need for themselves," says Roxy. "My dad says that. If there's something you need, something you really have to have—not just want to but have to, you'll find a way to get it.

When the people change, the palace cannot hold.

One of them says, "Why did they do it, Nina and Darrell?" And the other answers, "Because they could." That is the only answer there ever is.

no true knowledge is ever reached without pain.

Do you think that you are the stars, perhaps? And that I am the moon? I thought you were the moon. But I have been absent, too, you know. I think I have been absent all this time.

it. Already there are parents telling their boys not to go out alone, not to stray too far.

Men are no longer permitted to vote – because their years of violence and degradation have shown that they are not fit to rule or govern.

There's a girl on the beach at high tide, lighting up the sea with her hands. The girls from the convent watch her from the clifftop. She's waded into the ocean up to her waist, higher. She's not even wearing a bathing suit - just jeans and a black cardigan. And she's setting the sea on fire.

As it is written: "She cuppeth the lightning in her hand. She commandeth it to strike." from the Book of Eve, 13–17

Power has her ways. She acts on people, and people act on her. When does power exist? Only in the moment it is exercised.

There are strange movements rising now, not only across the world, but right here in the U.S. of A. You can see it on the internet. Boys dressing as girls to seem more powerful. Girls dressing as boys to shake off the meaning of the power, or to leap on the unsuspecting, wolf in sheep's clothing.

It's been a while since someone last made her laugh. Since she last laughed without deciding beforehand that laughing was the smart thing to do.

They have said to you that man rules over woman as Jesus rules over the Church. But I say unto you that woman rules over man as Mary guided her infant son, with kindness and with love.

It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.

intuition is just like that: sudden and complete, as if there were machinery working behind her eyes that even she has no access to. Clank, thunk.

For a man to follow you, it must seem that you are the one who knows the way out. Every person is in a dark place. Every person wants to feel that some other man has found the road back into the light.

For this is the heart of the matter: disasters occur where accidents meet character.

You can't put anyone into a box. Listen, even a stone isn't the same as any other stone, so I don't know where you all think you get off labelling humans with simple words and thinking you know everything you need. But most people can't live that way, even some of the time.

Your whole question is the mistake. Who's the serpent and who's the Holy Mother? Who's bad and who's good? Who persuaded the other one to eat the apple? Who has the power and who's powerless? All of these questions are the wrong question.

Tunde tries to imagine what it'd be like to have one. A power you can't give away or trade. He feels himself yearning for it, repulsed by it. He reads online forums where men say that if all the men in the world had one everything would be back to the way it ought to be. They're angry and afraid. He understands that.

Allie says: So what, then? What is any of my power worth if I can't use it here? The voice says: Remember what Tatiana says. We don't have to ask what they'd do if they were in control. We've seen it already. It's worse than this.