Margaret Laurence Quotes

• When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.

  Margaret Laurence

  Mean Girls, Jobs, Writing

  58 Copy quote

• It is my feeling that as we grow older we should become not less radical but more so. I do not, of course, mean this in any political-party sense, but rather in a willingness to struggle for those things in which we passionately believe. Social activism and the struggle for social justice are often thought of as the natural activities of the young but not of the middle-aged or the elderly. In fact, I don't think this was ever true.

  Margaret Laurence

  Party, Believe, Struggle

  29 Copy quote

• Know that although in the eternal scheme of things you are small, you are also unique and irreplaceable, as are all your fellow humans everywhere in the world.

  Margaret Laurence

  Unique, Diversity, Brotherhood

  25 Copy quote

• Will we ever reach a point when it is no longer necessary to say Them and Us? I believe we must reach that point, or perish.

  Margaret Laurence

  Believe, I Believe

  Margaret Laurence, George Woodcock (1983). “A Place to stand on: essays by and about Margaret Laurence”

  31 Copy quote

• In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.

  Margaret Laurence

  Funny, Family, Sarcastic

  Margaret Laurence (2014). “A Bird in the House: Stories”, p.90, University of Chicago Press

  33 Copy quote

• I used to think there would be a blinding flash of light someday, and then I would be wise and calm and would know how to cope with everything and my kids would rise up and call me blessed. Now I see that whatever I'm like, I'm pretty well stuck with it for life. Hell of a revelation that turned out to be.

  Margaret Laurence

  Wise, Blessed, Kids

  25 Copy quote

• The dead don't bear a grudge nor seek a blessing. The dead don't rest uneasy. Only the living.

  Margaret Laurence

  Grief, Blessing, Bears

  Margaret Laurence (2016). “The Stone Angel”, p.165, Head of Zeus

  24 Copy quote

• If I hadn't had my children, I wouldn't have written more and better, I would have written less and worse.

  Margaret Laurence

  Children, My Children, Written

  Margaret Laurence (1989). “Dance on the earth: a memoir”, McClelland and Stewart

  26 Copy quote

• Pride was my wilderness, and the demon that led me there was fear.

  Margaret Laurence

  Fear, Pride, Wilderness

  Margaret Laurence, Nora Foster Stovel (2001). “Long Drums and Cannons”, p.38, University of Alberta

  19 Copy quote

• Animals are less alone with roaring than we are with all these words.

  Margaret Laurence

  Animal, Roaring

  15 Copy quote

• Women, as well as men, in all ages and in all places, have danced on the earth, danced the life dance, danced joy, danced grief, danced despair, and danced hope. Literally and metaphorically, by their very lives.

  Margaret Laurence

  Grief, Men, Joy

  Margaret Laurence (1989). “Dance on the earth: a memoir”, McClelland and Stewart

  14 Copy quote

• As we grow older we should become not less radical but more so.

  Margaret Laurence

  Earth Day, Environmental, Should

  17 Copy quote

• Well, you're young. You know a lot you won't know later on.

  Margaret Laurence

  Young, Wells, Knows

  11 Copy quote

• What goes on inside isn't ever the same as what goes on outside.

  Margaret Laurence

  Goes On

  Margaret Laurence (2010). “The Fire-Dwellers”, p.30, New Canadian Library

  14 Copy quote

• I can't change what's happened to me in my life, or make what's not occurred take place. But I can't say I like it, or accept it, or believe it's for the best. I don't and never shall, not even if I'm damned for it.

  Margaret Laurence

  Believe, Accepting, Can't Change

  Margaret Laurence (2016). “The Stone Angel”, p.89, Head of Zeus

  9 Copy quote

• Holidays are enticing only for the first week or so. After that, it is no longer such a novelty to rise late and have little to do.

  Margaret Laurence

  Education, Holiday, Vacation

  Margaret Laurence (1993). “A Jest of God”, p.66, University of Chicago Press

  28 Copy quote

• I've never been able to force a novel. I always had the sense something being given to me. You can't sit around and wait until inspiration strikes, but neither can you force into being something that isn't there.

  Margaret Laurence

  Inspiration, Waiting, Able

  Margaret Laurence (1989). “Dance on the earth: a memoir”, McClelland and Stewart

  13 Copy quote

• Bless me or not, Lord, just as You please, for I'll not beg.

  Margaret Laurence

  Lord, Bless, Please

  Margaret Laurence (2016). “The Stone Angel”, p.167, Head of Zeus

  8 Copy quote

• I am rampant with memory.

  Margaret Laurence

  Memories

  Margaret Laurence (2016). “The Stone Angel”, p.9, Head of Zeus

  4 Copy quote

• Follow your heart, and you perish.

  Margaret Laurence

  Friendship, Heart, Follow Your Heart

  8 Copy quote

• Even if heaven were real, and measured as Revelation says, so many cubits this wayand that, how gimcrack a place it would be, crammed with its pavements of gold, its gates of pearl and topaz, like a gigantic chunkof costume jewelry.

  Margaret Laurence

  Real, Heaven, Gold

  1964 The Stone Angel, ch.4.

  54 Copy quote

• Privacy is a privilege not granted to the aged or the young.

  Margaret Laurence

  Privilege, Privacy, Granted

  1964 The Stone Angel, ch.1.

  6 Copy quote

• Why doesn't Prin go and get her own goddamn blistering bloody shitty jelly doughnuts?

  Margaret Laurence

  Jelly, Doughnut, Bloody

  Margaret Laurence (1974). “The Diviners”, p.36, University of Chicago Press

  9 Copy quote

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