“I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos ...” — A. S. Byatt Quote

“I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.”

“I'm more interested in books than people, and I always expect everybody else to be, but they're not.”

“I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won't be complete women. I don't think my daughters' generation has that feeling.”

“I took two or three months and I came up with a reason that I thought was enough and I went with it: if there is a God he's definitely not benevolent. We should mean less to him than ants. And if there is a God or there are gods they would value, more than anything, free will.”

“I went to pick my son up from school and walked him back and was in the house preparing dinner, and he came in the house and gave me this flower of chrysanthemum that was full of ants. And he went back out to play and ran out into the street and got hit by a car. The car happened to be driven by a LAPD detective.”