Quotes from Kate Atkinson

Boys took a long time to become men but daughters were women from the kickoff.

The past is what you take with you.

Juliet sighed and wondered if one day she would think herself to death. Was that possible? And would it be painful?

That was the one thing June had been terrified of having - a standard life, an ordinary life, a life like her parents' - living in a pink sandstone semi-detached villa in the suburbs with a neat garden and an en-suite master bedroom with fitted wardrobes

But melancholy, that was his own true humor. A miserable bastard, in other words.

Bridget wiped her tears vigorously on her apron and said, "Must get on with the tea.

There was a strangeness in the shimmering air, a sense of imminence that made Ursula's chest feel full, as if her heart was growing. It was a kind of high holiness—she could think of no other way of describing it. Perhaps it was the future, she thought, coming nearer all the time.

Ladies who lurch.

It was like dealing with Rasputin, not a middle-aged woman from Wolverhampton.

Love. Love wasn't sweet and light, it was visceral and overpowering. Love wasn't patient, love wasn't kind. Love was ferocious, love knew how to play dirty.

Mr. Carver hadn't been such a bad sort really. He had been very keen on Esperanto, which had seemed an absurd eccentricity at the time but now Ursula thought it might be a good thing to have a universal language, as Latin had once been. Oh, yes, Miss Woolf said, a common language was a wonderful idea, but utterly utopian. All good ideas were, she said sadly.

Vinny rarely leaves the house so when she does it's an occasion of some importance to her. She spends a lot of time looking forward to a glimpse of the outside world and then, when she returns, even more time complaining about it.

They all chose Indian names for themselves. Teddy was Little Fox ("Naturally," Ursula said). Nancy was Little Wolf ("Honiahaka" in Cheyenne, Mrs. Shawcross said. She had a book she referred to). Mrs. Shawcross herself was Great White Eagle ("Oh, for heaven's sake," Sylvie said, "talk about hubris").

A woman should be a comfort and a relief, a restful pillow for the weary head.

Now it would not be the geography of Empire that would make him, it would be the architecture of war.

I have no idea how to love another human being unless it's by tearing them to pieces and eating them.

There were different categories of friends in Vince's opinion. Golf friends, work friends, old school friends, shipboard friends...but friend friends were harder to come by.

royal blue frock coat covered in gold braid and, even more ridiculously, a top hat. Howell had such an imposing presence that rather than losing dignity in this flunky's outfit he actually made it seem strangely distinguished. Howell

She would be happy -- but not excessively so....

Gloria regretted that she wasn't a knitter, she could be producing a useful garment while waiting for Graham to die.

All those tiny ancient marine life forms falling to the ocean floor to come back to life one day as a Disney Fairies Tea Set.

She could have started up a branch library (or a spectacular house fire)

she didn't see the point of alcohol, or drugs. People had little enough control over their lives without losing more.

He could hardly beat them up, they were still – technically – children and he preferred to restrict his acts of violence to people old enough to fight for their country.