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100 Top Quotes By Angela Carter, The Author Of The Bloody Chamber

Famous As: Author of 'The Bloody Chamber' and 'Nights at the Circus'
Born On: May 7, 1940
Died On: February 16, 1992
Born In: Eastbourne, England
Died At Age: 51

Angela Carter was a British author who excelled in writing novels, short stories, poems and was also a journalist of great repute. After finishing high school, she started working as a journalist for the London based publication Croydon Advertiser but later on went on to complete her university education at University of Bristol. She studied English Literature and it seems that she put her education to good use, as she became a writer of prominence in post Second World War Britain. She wrote plenty of plays, novels, poetry collections and short stories that are read even to this day. The 1984 novel ‘Nights at the Circus’ is probably her best work and in fact has been named as the finest book to have ever won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Carter was one of the very few writers of her time who dealt with the theme of magic realism in her works and in addition to that, her writing had strong feminist messages that was also quite ahead of the time. Here are some of the selected quotes from Angela Carter that would certainly be applicable even in this day and age.

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Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.

Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.

Angela Carter
I will tell you what Jeanne was like. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off.

I will tell you what Jeanne was like. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off.

Angela Carter
Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.

Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.

Angela Carter
She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the windows of her eyes and that is very frightening.

She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the windows of her eyes and that is very frightening.

Angela Carter
The child's laughter is pure until he first laughs at a clown.

The child's laughter is pure until he first laughs at a clown.

Angela Carter
The tiger will never lie down with the lamb; he acknowledges no pact that is not reciprocal. The lamb must learn to run with the tigers.

The tiger will never lie down with the lamb; he acknowledges no pact that is not reciprocal. The lamb must learn to run with the tigers.

Angela Carter
Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves.

Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves.

Angela Carter
I think I want to be in love with you but I don't know how.

I think I want to be in love with you but I don't know how.

Angela Carter
I desire therefore I exist.

I desire therefore I exist.

Angela Carter
The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do.

The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do.

Angela Carter
Out of the frying pan into the fire! What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many? No different!

Out of the frying pan into the fire! What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many? No different!

Angela Carter
I am entirely alone. I and my shadow fill the universe.

I am entirely alone. I and my shadow fill the universe.

Angela Carter
Stars on our door, stars in our eyes, stars exploding in the bits of our brains where the common sense should have been

Stars on our door, stars in our eyes, stars exploding in the bits of our brains where the common sense should have been

Angela Carter
Anticipation is the greater part of pleasure.

Anticipation is the greater part of pleasure.

Angela Carter
We must all make do with the rags of love we find flapping on the scarecrow of humanity.

We must all make do with the rags of love we find flapping on the scarecrow of humanity.

Angela Carter
Is not this world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.

Is not this world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.

Angela Carter
Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Angela Carter
There was a house we all had in common and it was called the past, even though we'd lived in different rooms.

There was a house we all had in common and it was called the past, even though we'd lived in different rooms.

Angela Carter
There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer.

There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer.

Angela Carter
It is far easier for a woman to lead 
a blameless life than it is for a man; 
all she has to do is to avoid 
sexual intercourse like the plague.

It is far easier for a woman to lead a blameless life than it is for a man; all she has to do is to avoid sexual intercourse like the plague.

Angela Carter
His wedding gift, clasped round my throat. A choker of rubies, two inches wide, like an extraordinarily precious slit throat.

His wedding gift, clasped round my throat. A choker of rubies, two inches wide, like an extraordinarily precious slit throat.

Angela Carter
The invisible is only another unexplored country, a brave new world.

The invisible is only another unexplored country, a brave new world.

Angela Carter
Love is desire sustained by unfulfilment.

Love is desire sustained by unfulfilment.

Angela Carter
They were connoisseurs of boredom. They savoured the various bouquets of the subtly differentiated boredoms which rose from the long, wasted hours at the dead end of night.

They were connoisseurs of boredom. They savoured the various bouquets of the subtly differentiated boredoms which rose from the long, wasted hours at the dead end of night.

Angela Carter
Our fingernails match our toenails, match our lipstick match our rouge...The habit of applying warpaint outlasts the battle.

Our fingernails match our toenails, match our lipstick match our rouge...The habit of applying warpaint outlasts the battle.

Angela Carter
I see her as a series of marvellous shapes formed at random in the kaleidoscope of desire.

I see her as a series of marvellous shapes formed at random in the kaleidoscope of desire.

Angela Carter
Before he can become a wolf, the lycanthrope strips naked. If you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you.

Before he can become a wolf, the lycanthrope strips naked. If you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you.

Angela Carter
One beast and only one howls in the woods by night.

One beast and only one howls in the woods by night.

Angela Carter
Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.

Angela Carter
He was a lovely man in many ways. But he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive.

He was a lovely man in many ways. But he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive.

Angela Carter