Decca Aitkenhead > Quotes

“In those first hours after he drowned, when the catastrophe was still confined to Calabash beach, and to Jake, Joe and me, its speed was impossible to reconcile with its scale. Nothing so big could happen this fast; it defied the laws of physics, it could not be true. Death is too much for the mind to register in a matter of minutes; the incalculable magnitude can only be absorbed by increment, day by day. As each day allows a new glimpse of its immensity, and the aftershock extends beyond the beach to reach hundreds of people all over the world, my comprehension slowly expands until its dimensions resemble a more accurate impression of the truth. But the bigger his death grows, the more inconceivable it becomes. It feels like an ambitious piece of performance art; a work of fiction, not real life. How strange that the truth of my own situation should be so much clearer to everybody else.”
― Decca Aitkenhead, All at Sea

“A lie doesn't become dangerous only with exposure; it is toxic, however well buried.”
― Decca Aitkenhead, All at Sea

“This is half true. What”
― Decca Aitkenhead, All at Sea: A Memoir

“A couples therapist once told me that the qualities we look for in a partner are those we needed as a child and were denied”
― Decca Aitkenhead, All at Sea

“Yes, it really knocked my confidence. I was really young when I went in, and I really wanted to please. I don’t think you can be a good actor and want to please because so much about performing and acting is surprising people. But at drama school, I felt like what they wanted from me was for me to just get it right somehow'.”
― Decca Aitkenhead