|

|

Advertisements

Rachel Cusk Quotes

Modern morality is all about perception Picture Quote #1

I am a good and interested mother - which has surprised me Picture Quote #1

Writing, more than any other art, is indexed to the worthiness of the self because it is identified in people’s minds with emotion Picture Quote #1

For years I had lived in my body half-consciously, ignoring it mostly, dismissing its agendas wherever I could, and forever pressing it into the service of mental conceptions that resulted, almost as a by-product, sometimes in its pleasuring and sometimes in its abuse Picture Quote #1

I sometimes feel that the world is a very uncivilised place where it is meant to be at its most civilised. Where it’s meant to be intellectual or artistic or compassionate, it isn’t, and that makes me very angry Picture Quote #1

There’s this really good line in ‘Women in Love’ where Ursula says, ‘I always thought it was a sin to be unhappy.’ And actually I think that’s very common, it’s what a lot of people feel - that you have an obligation to life to be happy if you can Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

I absolutely don’t dislike children - I would choose their company over adult company any time Picture Quote #1

I was born abroad, but my parents were both English. Still, those few years of separation, and then coming back to England as an outsider, did give me an ability to see the country in a slightly detached way. I suppose I was made aware of what Englishness actually is because I only became immersed in it later in life Picture Quote #1

Shame is something you’ll find a lot of - particularly Catholic - girls feel about their bodies, about their sexuality, about their diet, about anything you like. Shame is the way you keep them down. That’s the way to crush a girl Picture Quote #1

The reaction to ‘Aftermath’ has been far worse than to ‘A Life’s Work,’ yet I find I’m perhaps a little less touched by it. In both cases, I’ve coped artistically by believing the criticisms weren’t right. They upset me, but they didn’t challenge my understanding of how to write, nor of how morality functions in literature Picture Quote #1

The distinctive feature of my family was intolerance of sensitivity and emotion - ‘Everything’s great, it all has to be great all the time and why do you have to spoil it?’ Whereas probably the most fundamental and important thing to me has been defending my right to tell the truth about how I feel Picture Quote #1

The anorexic body is held in the grip of will alone; its meaning is far from stable. What it says - ‘Notice me, feed me, mother me’ - is not what it means, for such attentions constitute an agonising test of that will, and also threaten to return the body to the dreaded ‘normality’ it has been such ecstasy to escape Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

The ‘good’ mother, with her fixed smile, her rigidity, her goody-goody outlook, her obsession with unnecessary hygiene, is in fact a fool. It is the ‘bad’ mother, unafraid of a joke and a glass of wine, richly self-expressive, scornful of suburban values, who is, in reality, good Picture Quote #1

Society in the English countryside is still strangely, quaintly divided. If black comedy and a certain type of social commentary are what you want, I think English rural communities offer quite a lot of material Picture Quote #1

In domestic life, the woman’s value is inherent, unquantifiable; at home she exchanges proven values for mythological ones. She ‘wants’ to be at home, and because she is a woman, she’s allowed to want it. This desire is her mystique, it is both what enables her to domesticate herself and what disempowers her Picture Quote #1

Human beings have a need, generally, to destroy things. The Freudian principle of civilisation is correct. There’s always, always a difference between the family image and the reality Picture Quote #1

If love is what is held to make us immortal, hatred is the reverse Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

Some people are better at maths than others: no one thinks you can be ‘taught’ to be a mathematical genius. And no one thinks of teaching, in that context, as a kind of forcing of the will. But there seems to be an idea of writing as an intuitive pastime which is being dishonestly subjected to counterintuitive methods Picture Quote #1

A creative writing workshop will contain students whose ambitions and abilities, whose conceptions of literature itself, are so diverse that what they have in common - the desire to write - could almost be considered meaningless Picture Quote #1

The writing you allude to is a form of dissent, but it’s also expressive of the need to evolve beyond what is turgid and stale in contemporary fiction Picture Quote #1

I don’t think I knew that you could be a novelist. I think a lot of my students are in the same condition. I thought it was unreachable, that it was sort of dead people. It took me a long time - I think I was well into novel writing before I really thought, ‘Actually, this is a valid pastime.’ Picture Quote #1

There is always shame in the creation of an expressive work, whether it’s a book or a clay pot. Every artist worries about how they will be seen by others through their work. When you create, you aspire to do justice to yourself, to remake yourself, and there is always the fear that you will expose the very thing that you hoped to transform Picture Quote #1

If I know somebody is coming ‘round, it is incredibly difficult for me to work because I’m waiting for this interruption - even the children’s comings and goings are interruptions. Cake-making is a good way of coming out of that space Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

My children are living, thinking human beings. It isn’t in my power to regret them, for they belong to themselves Picture Quote #1

I think men and women are the same. Even as parents, I think we’re the same. We’re just conditioned to think that we’re different. Having said that, it’s true that motherhood is a particularly vulnerable area. It’s an open wound, really. A woman is exposed to being turned into a different kind of person by the experience of motherhood Picture Quote #1

To be optimistic about something that is absolutely unknown to you is unfounded Picture Quote #1

I’m a novelist, not a social scientist or a commentator Picture Quote #1

I don’t really believe in stories, only in the people who tell them Picture Quote #1

It is living, not thinking, as a feminist that has become the challenge Picture Quote #1

1 2 3

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Advertisements

Text Quotes

Modern morality is all about perception (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I am a good and interested mother - which has surprised me (Rachel Cusk Quotes) Writing, more than any other art, is indexed to the worthiness of the self because it is identified in people’s minds with emotion. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) For years I had lived in my body half-consciously, ignoring it mostly, dismissing its agendas wherever I could, and forever pressing it into the service of mental conceptions that resulted, almost as a by-product, sometimes in its pleasuring and sometimes in its abuse. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I sometimes feel that the world is a very uncivilised place where it is meant to be at its most civilised. Where it’s meant to be intellectual or artistic or compassionate, it isn’t, and that makes me very angry. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) There’s this really good line in ‘Women in Love’ where Ursula says, ‘I always thought it was a sin to be unhappy.’ And actually I think that’s very common, it’s what a lot of people feel - that you have an obligation to life to be happy if you can. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I absolutely don’t dislike children - I would choose their company over adult company any time (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I was born abroad, but my parents were both English. Still, those few years of separation, and then coming back to England as an outsider, did give me an ability to see the country in a slightly detached way. I suppose I was made aware of what Englishness actually is because I only became immersed in it later in life (Rachel Cusk Quotes) Shame is something you’ll find a lot of - particularly Catholic - girls feel about their bodies, about their sexuality, about their diet, about anything you like. Shame is the way you keep them down. That’s the way to crush a girl (Rachel Cusk Quotes) The reaction to ‘Aftermath’ has been far worse than to ‘A Life’s Work,’ yet I find I’m perhaps a little less touched by it. In both cases, I’ve coped artistically by believing the criticisms weren’t right. They upset me, but they didn’t challenge my understanding of how to write, nor of how morality functions in literature (Rachel Cusk Quotes) The distinctive feature of my family was intolerance of sensitivity and emotion - ‘Everything’s great, it all has to be great all the time and why do you have to spoil it?’ Whereas probably the most fundamental and important thing to me has been defending my right to tell the truth about how I feel (Rachel Cusk Quotes) The anorexic body is held in the grip of will alone; its meaning is far from stable. What it says - ‘Notice me, feed me, mother me’ - is not what it means, for such attentions constitute an agonising test of that will, and also threaten to return the body to the dreaded ‘normality’ it has been such ecstasy to escape (Rachel Cusk Quotes) The ‘good’ mother, with her fixed smile, her rigidity, her goody-goody outlook, her obsession with unnecessary hygiene, is in fact a fool. It is the ‘bad’ mother, unafraid of a joke and a glass of wine, richly self-expressive, scornful of suburban values, who is, in reality, good (Rachel Cusk Quotes) Society in the English countryside is still strangely, quaintly divided. If black comedy and a certain type of social commentary are what you want, I think English rural communities offer quite a lot of material (Rachel Cusk Quotes) In domestic life, the woman’s value is inherent, unquantifiable; at home she exchanges proven values for mythological ones. She ‘wants’ to be at home, and because she is a woman, she’s allowed to want it. This desire is her mystique, it is both what enables her to domesticate herself and what disempowers her (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I don’t go to church any more, but I think that Catholicism is rather like the brand they use on cattle: I feel so formed in that Catholic mould that I don’t think I could adopt any other form of spirituality. I still get feelings of consolation about churches (Rachel Cusk Quotes) Human beings have a need, generally, to destroy things. The Freudian principle of civilisation is correct. There’s always, always a difference between the family image and the reality (Rachel Cusk Quotes) If love is what is held to make us immortal, hatred is the reverse (Rachel Cusk Quotes) Some people are better at maths than others: no one thinks you can be ‘taught’ to be a mathematical genius. And no one thinks of teaching, in that context, as a kind of forcing of the will. But there seems to be an idea of writing as an intuitive pastime which is being dishonestly subjected to counterintuitive methods. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) A creative writing workshop will contain students whose ambitions and abilities, whose conceptions of literature itself, are so diverse that what they have in common - the desire to write - could almost be considered meaningless. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) The writing you allude to is a form of dissent, but it’s also expressive of the need to evolve beyond what is turgid and stale in contemporary fiction. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I don’t think I knew that you could be a novelist. I think a lot of my students are in the same condition. I thought it was unreachable, that it was sort of dead people. It took me a long time - I think I was well into novel writing before I really thought, ‘Actually, this is a valid pastime.’ (Rachel Cusk Quotes) There is always shame in the creation of an expressive work, whether it’s a book or a clay pot. Every artist worries about how they will be seen by others through their work. When you create, you aspire to do justice to yourself, to remake yourself, and there is always the fear that you will expose the very thing that you hoped to transform. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) If I know somebody is coming ‘round, it is incredibly difficult for me to work because I’m waiting for this interruption - even the children’s comings and goings are interruptions. Cake-making is a good way of coming out of that space. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) My children are living, thinking human beings. It isn’t in my power to regret them, for they belong to themselves. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I think men and women are the same. Even as parents, I think we’re the same. We’re just conditioned to think that we’re different. Having said that, it’s true that motherhood is a particularly vulnerable area. It’s an open wound, really. A woman is exposed to being turned into a different kind of person by the experience of motherhood. (Rachel Cusk Quotes) To be optimistic about something that is absolutely unknown to you is unfounded (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I’m a novelist, not a social scientist or a commentator (Rachel Cusk Quotes) I don’t really believe in stories, only in the people who tell them (Rachel Cusk Quotes) It is living, not thinking, as a feminist that has become the challenge (Rachel Cusk Quotes)

1 2 3