Samantha Shannon quote: "I was not really aware of the dystopian genre before I read 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Many poets as well, like John Donne and Emily Dickinson, would be the influences; I specialized in Emily Dickinson at university. Both of those poets have really interesting ways of looking at life and death."

London had so much death in its history, it was hard to find a spot without spirits. They formed a s...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

My silver cord - the link between my body and my spirit - was extremely sensitive. It was what allow...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I had lived in that part of London that used to be called Islington since I was eight. I attended a ...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I was born in 1991, and 'Harry Potter' came out in '97, so, you know, I was really obses...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I often look at places and kind of mentally convert them to fantasy versions of themselves.
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I've never had a supernatural experience. I've been tempted to maybe have a tarot-card readi...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

Whenever anyone calls me 'The new J..K. Rowling,' I think, 'What's wrong with the ol...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I wanted to write a sci-fi story that would appeal to young women. Loads of girls like sci-fi, but i...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I fell even more deeply in love with Tolkien's legendarium after studying Old English literature...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I'm not going to give it the big 'I am' now that I'm a New York Times bestseller.
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I do take this insane pleasure in world-building. I get the world in my head, but I have to make sur...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I am never not thinking about stories. 'The Bone Season' is 90% of my brain - 10% is interac...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

Writing a novel is like knocking on a door that will never open. You are so desperate to get in, you...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I know what I want to achieve in each book and the major points, but I don't plan right down to ...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I was so sure I wanted to be a novelist. I would spend hours and hours every day writing. Little sto...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I always felt that sci-fi and fantasy were my thing. Bit of a geek, I'm afraid. But I like creat...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

People question what I thought of Oxford. Students used to talk about the 'Oxford bubble' be...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I am the first one to go to university in my family. I am the first writer as well. My dad is a reti...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I worry that people think you have to go to a university to be a good writer, which is categorically...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

It is a strange world, Oxford - quite claustrophobic. I was often glad I was only there for eight we...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

What I like about Oxford is how small it is; it's really more of a big town than a city.
SAMANTHA SHANNON

'The Bone Season' is violent. There's sex. My little brother keeps asking to read it, an...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I was a hacker of sorts. Not a mind 'reader,' exactly; more a mind 'radar,' in tune ...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I'm often daydreaming, and it's because I've always liked the idea of there being someth...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

I was a shy child, and when I was 13, I started wearing braces on my teeth. I used to be acutely sel...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

Permission to disregard your orders, Underqueen."
"Permission not granted. Permission categori...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

In 2011, I did an internship in Seven Dials, a junction in London where seven roads come together. I...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

My English teachers gave me a copy of Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' when I left hig...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

What I will tell you is that you cannot force yourself to mourn. Sometimes, the best way to honour t...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

No, Paige. I am trying to help you.”
“Go to hell.”
“I already exist on a level of ...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

You will understand that all of us are devils in the skins of men.
SAMANTHA SHANNON

But one day, you will be faced with a choice, as we all are. One day you will have to choose between...
SAMANTHA SHANNON

In Paris people love and regret, kiss and be happy.
SAMANTHA

How does somebody know you love them if you keep it to yourself.
SAMANTHA

Christmas is a huge thing in my family. We usually start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. We s...
SAMANTHA ISLER

All I want to do when I have time off is to have a laugh with my school friends and go down the pub.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

Well, I asked him who would start the war first.
SAMANTHA SMITH

And he said that he didn't want to have a war or anything like that again.
SAMANTHA SMITH

If you aren't please tell me how you are going to not have a war.
SAMANTHA SMITH

He said that if we were going to have a war, they would never be the first ones to start it.
SAMANTHA SMITH

Sometimes I still worry that the next day will be the last day of the Earth.
SAMANTHA SMITH

Well, I just hope we can have peace, and I hope it'll do some good.
SAMANTHA SMITH

God made the world for us to live together in peace and not fight.
SAMANTHA SMITH

Don't take for granted that the worthiness of your cause will win you allies; bring it down to a...
SAMANTHA POWER

When dictators feel their support slipping among adults, it is not unusual for them to alter school ...
SAMANTHA POWER

I would like to put forward a simple thesis that should no longer be at all controversial: it is now...
SAMANTHA POWER

Syria is important because it lies at the heart of a region critical to U.S. security, a region that...
SAMANTHA POWER

The U.N. brings everybody together. And without it, we can't deal with Ebola or terrorism or cli...
SAMANTHA POWER

American decision-makers must understand how damaging a foreign policy that privileges order and pro...
SAMANTHA POWER

Historical hypocrites have themselves carried out the very human rights abuses that they suddenly de...
SAMANTHA POWER

If your aim is to attack the United States, it is hard to imagine a more difficult way of getting he...
SAMANTHA POWER

My style in diplomacy is my style as a human being - I'm very direct and very honest.
SAMANTHA POWER

What is most needed in Darfur is an international peacekeeping and protection presence, and this is ...
SAMANTHA POWER

Throughout history, when societies face tough economic times, we have seen democratic reforms deferr...
SAMANTHA POWER

When it came to the Vietnam War, Mr. McNamara was an early advocate of escalation but came to realiz...
SAMANTHA POWER

We are responsible for our incredulity.
SAMANTHA POWER

The story of U.S. policy during the genocide in Rwanda is not a story of willful complicity with evi...
SAMANTHA POWER

Citizens victimized by genocide or abandoned by the international community do not make good neighbo...
SAMANTHA POWER

Brokenness is the operative issue of our time - broken souls, broken hearts, broken places.
SAMANTHA POWER

You know, there is a long tradition in the U.S. of, um, promoting elections up to the point that you...
SAMANTHA POWER

For me, it's not an option to despair. The question is: what can we do to make someone's lif...
SAMANTHA POWER

I'm very picky, and I'm never 100% happy with the work I do; I hate watching myself and hear...
SAMANTHA MUMBA

I'm based in London now. I'm renting an apartment, making my own little home. It's great...
SAMANTHA MUMBA

But I've had to act and not depend on my voice so much.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

I'm really starting to think everything happens for a reason.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

All I say is that I don't go out with famous men.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

I loved being behind the scenes and finding out how they make movies.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

I'm not into the whole showbiz scene.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

People watch me, waiting for me to slip up, so my privacy has gone - but that's a price you pay.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

When I'm out with a group I hide in the corner and get legless. I just make sure my friends shie...
SAMANTHA MUMBA

There are a lot of female artists my age around at the moment, but they're all American and blon...
SAMANTHA MUMBA

But I'm not crazy about the designers like Prada and Gucci. I hate going into designer stores.
SAMANTHA MUMBA

I'm having a great time. It's like I'm on some ridiculous big roller coaster not knowing...
SAMANTHA MUMBA

Everyone wants to look their best, everyone has dreams of wanting to look like something else. But w...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I'll never get a part in a huge action blockbuster.
SAMANTHA MORTON

I am proud of what I've done.
SAMANTHA MORTON

I was physically abused and I retaliated.
SAMANTHA MORTON

I'm an actor. That's what I'm gifted at. It's what makes me breathe.
SAMANTHA MORTON

My mind boggles at the amount of violence inflicted upon children in today's society.
SAMANTHA MORTON

I'm not a writer. I think I can write short stories and poetry, but film writing, brilliant film...
SAMANTHA MORTON

To be honest with you, a lot of directors can be very lazy.
SAMANTHA MORTON

Some directors cast you because they trust you to do the performance - but then they forget to direc...
SAMANTHA MORTON

The truth is I had lots of rehab and now I have a clean bill of health.
SAMANTHA MORTON

I hate the analyzing thing. People say, 'Why do you think your character did that? I don't k...
SAMANTHA MORTON

Most of my life, I've been on a film set. There isn't anything to learn, not learn, unlearn....
SAMANTHA MORTON

Catholicism played such a huge part in my life, I would not have survived without my faith.
SAMANTHA MORTON

For anyone who's been in care, successfully coming through the system is nothing to with money o...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't h...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I think anybody who has been abused as a kid - and I was abused as a kid, by various people - will s...
SAMANTHA MORTON

It's fantastic to strive towards a nice life where you eat nice organic food and your children g...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I have worked very hard on being aware of my childhood but moving forward and not letting it bring m...
SAMANTHA MORTON

We're all living blinkered lives, and we're not seeing what's going on and looking to ch...
SAMANTHA MORTON

You get very possessive about characters, you feel you can see it in your mind and you want to play ...
SAMANTHA MORTON

When you've been raised in care, rap music isn't just about guns and sexism. They're tal...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I will check the internet for at least an hour every morning scanning worldwide news to do with chil...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I was angry but not at God. I feel that you are closer to God when you are messed up. Definitely. Th...
SAMANTHA MORTON

What shocks me is that so many people leave care and become homeless, and when you're homeless y...
SAMANTHA MORTON

I like to stretch my acting muscles.
SAMANTHA MORTON

There aren't a lot of roles written for women who are strong willed.
SAMANTHA MATHIS

Doing a piece on film is completely different from doing it onstage.
SAMANTHA MATHIS

You really have to create everything in order to come away with a full human being on screen.
SAMANTHA MATHIS

When I was blonde I was perceived as an innocent and sweet young girl.
SAMANTHA MATHIS

I really miss things like going to football games and pep rallies, and when I come home to Tulsa, I ...
SAMANTHA ISLER

I know a lot of people who say they want to leave Tulsa and go off to L.A. or New York City. But I c...
SAMANTHA ISLER

I always wanted to act. I guess I've always been a bit of a drama queen.
SAMANTHA ISLER

I made a decision when I started writing 'All is Song' to take the compliments I had for ...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

When we fall in love, we feel that this person is ours and we are theirs by our mutual volition, and...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

As the U.S., much of Europe, and the U.K. shift toward the political right, the rhetoric grows more ...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Being published is a bit like being entered into a race you don't even want to run, but, once ru...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Common perceptions of female friendships are morning coffees discussing children, bags, periods and ...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

With twenty six letters, you can create anything you like - any person, any world, any place, any em...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

It's quite difficult to write about female friendship without it seeming to be a very niche subj...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

The sense of one's past is so strong and forms our sense of self so strongly, it will always fas...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

The Japanese have different words for love. To them, it's plain weird that we love spaghetti and...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

With 'All Is Song,' I tried to construct a very traditional narrative that pulls no tricks.
SAMANTHA HARVEY

I conceived 'All Is Song' as a modernised, loosely interpreted version of Socrates's lif...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Down on the ground, we seem to do anything but make lengthy, robust monologues. We can communicate i...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Monologues are self-verifying and self-referencing, a world in their own right, one with its own int...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

The past is open to all sorts of magical possibilities because it can't be verified. It's as...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

I'm just fascinated by the past. You know, both by the possibilities it holds and by the complet...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

When there's change, and people fear things, they become more dogmatic in their views. They lash...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Socrates, after all, could be an intensely annoying man, all the time questioning passers-by until t...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

We use the same possessive pronouns for everything, but do we own our lives or sisters or husbands i...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

We see book-burning as a crime against humanity: it's intolerable because books represent a kind...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

There are many ways to go about a story. And if you give yourself some formal constraints, it just m...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

One of the most unsettling things about 'Monologue' is its long silences, in which the man s...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

I think we often live at a surface level, and that ends up with us in a lot of difficulty because we...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

What I always liked about Socrates was his insistence on questioning things for the sake of reaching...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

My sister is my sister regardless - has always been and always will be and has no choice about it. T...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

Socrates was famously executed for his philosophical and political beliefs. I wondered what would ha...
SAMANTHA HARVEY

I don't have a problem with my image; it's other people who do.
SAMANTHA FOX

I'm an outgoing girl, and I can't help the way I look.
SAMANTHA FOX

I consider myself sexy. But the sexy image doesn't bother me, and I don't think it detracts ...
SAMANTHA FOX

When somebody wants me to sign an old picture, it's like looking at another person.
SAMANTHA FOX

At 20, I didn't know what suited me. I had terrible fashion sense and awful make-up.
SAMANTHA FOX

When I was a model, everybody was scrutinising me and I felt I had to go to the gym because my figur...
SAMANTHA FOX

I still keep my accent.
SAMANTHA FOX

It wouldn't be fair to drag a child round the world, touring.
SAMANTHA FOX

I am very domesticated. I find I really enjoy it.
SAMANTHA FOX

I can't beleive I'm here to tell the tale, this was my first brush with death, and God must ...
SAMANTHA FOX

I always wanted it, the fame. When it come, I didn't want to let it go.
SAMANTHA FOX

I still consider myself a working-class girl and would send my kids to public school.
SAMANTHA FOX

I wanted to get a taste of what it would feel like to be a mum. I've always had a strong materna...
SAMANTHA FOX

Gay guys love women who are tough, who are survivors. They always call me a diva. And I am a survivo...
SAMANTHA FOX

Listen, it's very easy not to be ripped off, you know. Get yourself a lawyer.
SAMANTHA FOX

As a kid, I dreamed of being a pop star, a glamorous woman and traveling the world. And I've don...
SAMANTHA FOX

All my life, it's been the same with men. Being a woman who is famous and adored by men is very ...
SAMANTHA FOX

I've got ten pairs of trainers. That's one for every day of the week.
SAMANTHA FOX

The simple things in life make me very happy.
SAMANTHA FOX

My father Philip was an actor and appeared in everything from 'The Onedin Line' to 'Hedd...
SAMANTHA BOND

One of my earliest memories is of being about three and a half, climbing through the legs of a man w...
SAMANTHA BOND

Sometimes I'll work through the crossword sections of three separate papers.
SAMANTHA BOND

I get so nervous before I go on stage that I can never eat very much, so I'm always completely s...
SAMANTHA BOND

If you put people up on pedestals, there's only one way for them to go, and that is down.
SAMANTHA BOND

Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called ...
SAMANTHA BOND

The middle-aged woman is the ground bed of the audience that watches television, and yet they are ab...
SAMANTHA BOND

The big thing that Moneypenny changed was the amount of charity work that I was able to be involved ...
SAMANTHA BOND

I managed to slip two children out in the middle of my career and have been lucky with all the work.
SAMANTHA BOND

I think that as you get older, you become aware of everything that could go wrong.
SAMANTHA BOND

I'm an appalling flyer. I get very tense, although I no longer weep uncontrollably for no reason...
SAMANTHA BOND

It's always been a dream of mine to be Ginger Rogers or Cyd Charisse, and here I am performing a...
SAMANTHA BOND

I've been married to the same man - even after the separation - longer than most people in this ...
SAMANTHA BOND

When I got on stage, I would have a rush of adrenaline; everybody gets it. Normally after the first ...
SAMANTHA BOND

I adore acting; it's in my blood - quite literally - but I can honestly say the most creative th...
SAMANTHA BOND

Filming is quite exciting because every day is different, but it can involve long hours standing aro...
SAMANTHA BOND

I lost a girlfriend when I was in my 30s. She was 46. It all sounds so trite, but I put a Post-it on...
SAMANTHA BOND

It's one of the oldest theatrical adages: never work with children or animals.
SAMANTHA BOND

I always have bananas with me for energy.
SAMANTHA BOND

I tend to opt for relaxed family holidays when I can.
SAMANTHA BOND

'Downton' is one of the best jobs in the world, and I'm looking forward to the next seri...
SAMANTHA BOND

Nobody can prepare you for the loss of a parent.
SAMANTHA BOND

I grew up without the rose-tinted look at the profession many of my friends had, but I've been v...
SAMANTHA BOND

If I pop off and do something drastic, everyone's going to realise because they know I'm 50....
SAMANTHA BOND

Not a lot of people know this, but I'm very good at mathematics. When I was an angry teenager, I...
SAMANTHA BOND

My best friend is my husband.
SAMANTHA BOND

I was totally unknown in the television and film industry in Canada.
SAMANTHA BEE

It was only a few years ago that I couldn't get hired to save my life.
SAMANTHA BEE

I learn something in the interviews from time to time.
SAMANTHA BEE

If it wasn't for what goes on in the world of politics, we wouldn't really have much of a sh...
SAMANTHA BEE

I think the show does better with newsmakers and politicians than it does with actors.
SAMANTHA BEE

I don't think the show would be funny to you if you didn't already have a base of informatio...
SAMANTHA BEE

I continue to be very shy. I think a lot of actors and performers are really weird, shy people worki...
SAMANTHA BEE

I think that my love of cooking grew out of my love of reading about cooking. When I was a kid, we h...
SAMANTHA BEE

There are some people who believe that these are not real stories with real people, but they actuall...
SAMANTHA BEE

It's great when you have people who will speak passionately and honestly about what they are doi...
SAMANTHA BEE

A lot of funny stuff happens in Canada.
SAMANTHA BEE

I think NASCAR's coming to Canada now so it'll take on a whole new relevance. Be afraid.
SAMANTHA BEE

I never believe them when they say that because you really have to sort of be aware of what's go...
SAMANTHA BEE

My apartment is the equivalent of one room in my Toronto home. Now I understand why New Yorkers are ...
SAMANTHA BEE

If I could live in New York the rest of my life, I absolutely would, but it's also prohibitively...
SAMANTHA BEE

It is so expensive to take care of my hair and keep it looking like I was born with it, when my real...
SAMANTHA BEE

I get maximum satisfaction out of buying children's clothes online.
SAMANTHA BEE

Last year people won more than one billion dollars playing poker. And casinos made twenty-seven bill...
SAMANTHA BEE

It's not every day people fly you to New York for auditions.
SAMANTHA BEE

I'm shy, but I'm not clinically shy. I don't have social anxiety disorder or anything li...
SAMANTHA BEE

I hate birthdays. I thought that I only hated my own birthday, and then I realized that I hate my ch...
SAMANTHA BEE

You have to be willing to ask questions that almost no one else would ask.
SAMANTHA BEE

The best part about poker is there's no down side.
SAMANTHA BEE

I'm capable of living in the moment. And I'm especially capable of living in the moment of s...
SAMANTHA BEE

I believe in breakfast. It's the one meal that my kids usually eat without a fuss, so that's...
SAMANTHA BEE

I was not really aware of the dystopian genre before I read 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Many poets as well, like John Donne and Emily Dickinson, would be the influences; I specialized in Emily Dickinson at university. Both of those poets have really interesting ways of looking at life and death.

Samantha Shannon

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