Words like passion and ecstasy, we learn them but they stay flat on the page. Sometimes we try to turn them over, find out what's on the other side, and everyone has a story to tell os a woman or a brothel or an opium night or a war. We fear it. We fear passion and laugh at too much love and those who love too much.
Jeanette WintersonYes, the past is another country, but one that we can visit, and once there we can bring back the things we need.
Jeanette WintersonI like to look at how people work together when they are put into stressful situations, when life stops being cozy.
Jeanette WintersonDo all lovers feel helpless and valiant in the presence of the beloved? Helpless because the need to roll over like a pet dog is never far away. Valiant because you know you would slay a dragon with a pocket knife if you had to.
Jeanette WintersonWhile I canโt have you, I long for you. I am the kind of person who would miss a train or a plane to meet you for coffee. Iโd take a taxi across town to see you for ten minutes. Iโd wait outside all night if I thought you would open the door in the morning. If you call me and say โWill youโฆโ my answer is โYesโ, before your sentence is out. I spin worlds where we could be together. I dream you. For me, imagination and desire are very close.
Jeanette Winterson