Happiness is a specific. Misery is a generalization. People usually know exactly why they are happy. They very rarely know why they are miserable.
Jeanette WintersonMy characters are always on the outside; the spotlight's not on them. But they do get somewhere.
Jeanette WintersonSometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won't help you.
Jeanette WintersonI don't own my emotions unless I can think about them. I am not afraid of feeling but I am afraid of feeling unthinkingly. I don't want to drown. My head is my heart's lifebelt.
Jeanette WintersonShe said sheโd often wondered why she wanted to do some things and not do other things at all. Well, it was obvious with some things, but for others, there was no reason there. Sheโd spent a long time puzzling it out, then she thought that what youโd done in a past life you didnโt need to do again, and what you had to do in the future, you wouldnโt be ready to do now.
Jeanette WintersonLife is fragmentary, and the pattern that creativity can offer is not one that is imposed, not something rigid, but rather something which can reveal the intrinsic patterns of that fragmentation. Things are in a perpetual dance, but there is an order. It's not really random at all.
Jeanette Winterson