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I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real.

— Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

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More quotes by Margaret Atwood

The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love.

Surfacing (1972)

I would rather dance as a ballerina, though faultily, than as a flawless clown.

Lady Oracle (1976)

Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

War is what happens when language fails.

The Robber Bride (1993)

Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.

Cat's Eye (1988)

All Margaret Atwood quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Margaret Atwood (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.