Quotes from Human Croquet

Kate Atkinson ·  352 pages

Rating: (7.4K votes)


“The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I am mad, I think. I am mad therefore I think. I am mad therefore I think I am.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I wanted her for what she was, but when I got her I wanted her to change.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I suppose a better sister would have set about weaving him a shirt from nettles and throwing it over his furred-over body so that he could be released from his enchantment and resume his human form. I give him some cat food instead.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“... the doors of perception are hanging crazily off their hinges these days.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet



“Do you keep time in the same place that you save it? If so why is it always so difficult to find? It must be in a very safe place.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I'm not myself," she said and then laughed maniacally, "but God knows who I am.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“Before the beginning is the void and the void belongs in neither time nor space and is therefore beyond our imagination.
Nothing will come of nothing unless it's the beginning of the world. This is how it begins, with the word and the word is life. The void is transformed by a gigantic firecracker allowing time to dawn and imagination to begin.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“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.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I don't think I'd mind working on a cheese counter. It would leave my mind free to do whatever it wanted - which is nothing in particular, it's true, but I like being alone in my head, I'm used to it.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet



“Maybe we're all the living dead, reconstituted from the dust of the dead.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“I'm a shadow of my former self," she announces. Vinny was a shadow to begin with, now she's a shadow of a shadow.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“Is this normal, I wonder? But then, what is normal?”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


“Ah, but the rich are different,’ the footman said, ‘they take a lot more looking after.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Human Croquet


About the author

Kate Atkinson
Born place: in York, England, The United Kingdom
Born date January 1, 1951
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“Eleanor looked up, surprised; the little girl was sliding back in her chair, sullenly refusing her milk, while her father frowned and her brother giggled and her mother said calmly, 'She wants her cup of stars.'

Indeed yes, Eleanor thought; indeed, so do I; a cup of stars, of course.

'Her little cup,' the mother was explaining, smiling apologetically at the waitress, who was thunderstruck at the thought that the mill's good country milk was not rich enough for the little girl. 'It has stars in the bottom, and she always drinks her milk from it at home. She calls it her cup of stars because she can see the stars while she drinks her milk.' The waitress nodded, unconvinced, and the mother told the little girl, 'You'll have your milk from your cup of stars tonight when we get home. But just for now, just to be a very good little girl, will you take a little milk from this glass?'

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don't do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl.”
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“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”
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“ONCE UPON A time, there was a king who had three beautiful daughters. He loved each of them dearly. One day, when the young ladies were of age to be married, a terrible, three-headed dragon laid siege to the kingdom, burning villages with fiery breath. It spoiled crops and burned churches. It killed babies, old people, and everyone in between.

The king promised a princess’s hand in marriage to whoever slayed the dragon. Heroes and warriors came in suits of armor, riding brave horses and bearing swords and arrows.

One by one, these men were slaughtered and eaten.

Finally the king reasoned that a maiden might melt the dragon’s heart and succeed where warriors had failed. He sent his eldest daughter to beg the dragon for mercy, but the dragon listened to not a word of her pleas. It swallowed her whole.

Then the king sent his second daughter to beg the dragon for mercy, but the dragon did the same. Swallowed her before she could get a word out.

The king then sent his youngest daughter to beg the dragon for mercy, and she was so lovely and clever that he was sure she would succeed where the others had perished.

No indeed. The dragon simply ate her.

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Now, let me ask you this. Who killed the girls?

The dragon? Or their father?”
― E. Lockhart, quote from We Were Liars


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