Human beings- I've observed- are hot-wired for score keeping, and since they like to win, they're always going one better than the other fellow.

Margaret Atwood The Tent
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In "The Tent" by Margaret Atwood, the author reflects on the innate competitive nature of human beings. She suggests that people are naturally inclined to keep score in their interactions and strive to outdo one another. This tendency for competition appears to be an inherent part of the human experience, deeply embedded within our psyche.

This observation sheds light on the dynamics of human relationships, where the urge to excel and...

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The Tent
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Margaret Atwood
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February 13, 2025
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Other quotes in The Tent

Everyone believed him of course, but you always knew with Salome that if anyone's head was going to roll it wouldn't be hers.

Margaret Atwood The Tent

I suffer from my own multiplicity. Two or three images would have been enough, or four, or five. That would be allowed for a firm idea: This is she. As it is, I'm watery, I ripple, from moment to moment I dissolve into my other selves.

Margaret Atwood The Tent

You're not my real parents, every child has thought. I'm not your real child. But with orphans, it's true. What freedom, to thumb your nose authentically!

Margaret Atwood The Tent

Human beings- I've observed- are hot-wired for score keeping, and since they like to win, they're always going one better than the other fellow.

Margaret Atwood The Tent

Walking was not fast enough, so we ran. Running was not fast enough, so we galloped. Galloping was not fast enough, so we sailed. Sailing was not fast enough, so we rolled merrily along on long metal tracks. Long metal tracks were not fast enough, so we drove. Driving was not fast enough, so we flew. Flying isn't fast enough for us. We want to get there faster. Get where? Wherever we are not. But a human soul can only go as fast as a man can walk, they used to say. In that case, where are all the souls? Left behind.

Margaret Atwood The Tent

You don't understand much, he says. Why do you think I was lost in the impenetrable forest in the first place?

Margaret Atwood The Tent
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.

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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.

Race of Cain, ascend to heaven, And cast God down upon the earth!

Charles Baudelaire The Flowers of Evil / The...
Race of Cain, ascend to heaven, And cast God down upon the earth!

"Philip Sharpe was a soldier in God's army," says the minister. "Now he marches with the angels."

Holly Black Red Glove
"Philip Sharpe was a soldier in God's army," says the minister. "Now he marches with the angels."

For me the curse is a crutch, but the con is everything.

Holly Black White Cat
For me the curse is a crutch, but the con is everything.

I don't have anything against God. Far from it. But I don't understand Him. And I don't trust a lot of the people that go around claiming that they're working in His best interests.

Jim Butcher Grave Peril
I don't have anything against God. Far from it. But I don't understand Him. And I don't trust a lot of the people that go around claiming that they're working in His best interests.

Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much," a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Of course, there's another word for such people: thinkers.

Susan Cain Quiet: The Power of...
Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much," a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Of course, there's another word for such people: thinkers.
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