[My favorite word is] and. It is so hopeful.
Interpretation
The word 'and' represents connection and inclusivity, expressing hope and possibility.
Margaret Atwood finds hope in the word 'and' because it signifies union and potential rather than separation. In contrast to 'or,' which presents a choice or limitation, 'and' opens up a world of possibilities, inviting abundance and connection in relationships and ideas.
In practice
In a speech about teamwork, one might say, 'We must remember the power of 'and' in our collaborative efforts.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
When trying to remember my share in the glow of the eternal present, in the smile of God, I return to my childhood, too, for that is where the most significant discoveries turn up.
I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.
One of my greatest pleasures in my writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the realization that such people rarely read.
Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night! - As Margo Channing in All About Eve
Genius is nothing more or less than childhood recovered by will, a childhood how equipped for self-expression with an adult's capacities.
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