Some people mistakenly think nature is very nice and benevolent and never betrays.
Interpretation
Nature is often seen as kind, but it can be unpredictable and harsh.
In this quote, Margaret Atwood highlights the misconception that nature is always gentle and kind. While many view the natural world as benevolent and nurturing, it is important to recognize that it can also be unforgiving and harsh, often betraying our expectations with its unpredictability and power.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a nature conservation meeting to remind participants of the duality of nature.
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.
Once you've been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is.
Beauty and sadness always go together. Nature thought beauty too rich to go forth Upon the earth without a meet alloy.
One of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
Here is a little forest Whose leaf is ever green; Here is a brighter garden, Where not a frost has been; In its unfading flowers I hear the bright bee hum; Prithee, my brother, Into my garden come!
The tulip and the butterfly_x000D_ _x000D_ Appear in gayer coats than I:_x000D_ _x000D_ Let me be dressed fine as I will,_x000D_ _x000D_ Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.
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