Our Shared Shelf discussion

While reading our books I always find some special quotes that remind me of sth, that make me think further or quotes that are just too good to forget.
I'd like to read your favourite quotes from THE POWER and what you think about these.


The first thing I came across was on page 3 "as above, so below" which I know from pagan religions like wicca. it's interesting to read it in a power system where women supress men, while most pagan belief-systems try to avoid/negate all harm done to others and seek balance between male and female while the book is showing a complete different view. (apart from the idea of God being female )

another really inspiring quote on p. 71 about having the Power but not using it because simply having it is what makes all the difference : "it doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she's never would. what matters is that she's could, if she wanted. the power to hurt is a kind of wealth"
that's probably the unconcious power of men in our real world. It's only culture and moral that's keeping physically weaker people safe from stronger ones. they could...but they don't, cause they know they could...

Sophia your comment
they could...but they don't, cause they know they could...

I love!

I think the parts that stood out the most to me were any time Tunde felt unsafe around women.
"When he walked past a group of women on the road- laughing and joking and making arcs against the sky- Tunde said to himself, I'm not here, I'm nothing, don't notice me, you can't see me, there's nothing to see here."

It was such a great illustration of how that power had shifted, because his thoughts were thoughts that I (and I'm sure many other women) have had while walking past men since I was about fourteen years old.

This quote has stuck with me since reading the book.
"The voice says: There's never been a right choice, honeybun. The whole idea that there are two things and you have to choose is the problem."

"it doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she's never would. what matters is that she's could, if she wanted. the power to hurt is a kind of wealth..."

Wow, that's a terrifying morbid way of thinking.

Do you mean The Power, The Secret?

“In his journal, he wrote: ‘For the first time today on the road I was afraid.’ He ran his fingers over the ink as it dried. The truth was easier there than here.”

For me the passages from Tunde were most poignant as they so clearly demonstrated the power dynamics and just how much they effect people.

This one stuck out to me for some reason (it's another Tunde one--I don't think it's coincidence that so many of us here found a lot in his story):

"Tunde tries to imagine what it'd be like to have [a skein]. A power you can't give away or trade. He feels himself yearning for it, repulsed by it."

It made me think of male privilege [which I lack] and other privileges [racial, class, etc, many of which I possess in spades.] How it's so disgusting that power pools that way around qualities that have no real meaning, and yet at the same time we all have to navigate and wield what influence we have in order to survive.

Quotes is my favorite part of any book :)
Here are some...

"She listens at doors and around corners. She has always had this habit. A child in danger must learn to pay more attention to the adults than a child loved and cherished."
Heartbreaking, yet accurate quote.

"The day someone else knows where your money's going better than you do, that's the day you've lost"
I'm really into financing (or the idea of) so this was funny for me.

"We're only pretending everything is normal because we don't know what else to do."
This line is common among most changes. People revert to what they do know when they don't know what else to do. I always wonder, if there was a huge drastic change, what would I do? If I win the lottery, what would I do? And my answer has always been: I'd go back to work the next day (unless it's a weekend). Which is sad to admit because I like to think of myself as more creative than that but there is nothing wrong with a little security. Up until, of course, you start wasting your time with it.

"They'll only keep the most genetically healthy of us alive. See this is why God meant men to be the ones with the power. However bad we treat women--well, it's like a slave....see, people got slavery wrong. If you have a slave, that slave's your property, you don't want damage to come to it. however bad any man treated a woman, he needs her in a fit condition to carry a child. But now...one genetically perfect man can site a thousand--five thousand--children. And what do they need the rest of us for? They're going to kill us all."
So this quote inspired anger and disbelief. Well not really disbelief in the sense that I can't believe he said that...more like lack of comprehension of how could people like this exist?! And they do. And I know they do. And it sucks that I know people personally with this kind of entitlement issue.

"That kind of face her dad would have said was a bad bet for business. Never keep someone on a job who likes it too much."
This reminded me of the trigger happy police we hear about on the news. If you enjoy killing others, perhaps that's not the job for you. I don't mean to say police in general, I was referring back to the mob job. You put a job at jeopardy when you prefer to have fun over getting the job done.

I'll stop here with the quotes. I have like ten others but most of them don't really inspire much topic other than just...digesting what was mentioned. I liked all the other quotes you guys have mentioned. They were marked down on my book as well but I didn't want to repeat them :)

I love your quotes, but I'd like to know which book they came from.

Cindy wrote: "I love your quotes, but I'd like to know which book they came from."

The Power by Naomi Alderman.