Quotes by Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent

…dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.

Bird

Buttons

Guilt

A bubble of fear passes up my spine. It’s the feeling of standing on ice and suddenly hearing it crack under your weight – both thrilling and terrifying together.

Feelings

Ice

Together

As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to let it all unravel.

Mistake

Prayer

Woven

Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.

Kindness

Ravens

Wise

Endless days of dark indoors and hateful glances are enough to set a rime on anyone’s bones.

Bones

Dark

Hateful

How can I say what it was like to breathe again? I felt newborn. I staggered in the light of the world and took deep gulps of fresh sea air. It was late in the day: the wet mouth of the afternoon was full on my face. My soul blossomed in that brief moment as they led me out of doors. I fell, my skirts in the mud, and I turned my face upwards as if in prayer. I could have wept from the relief of light.

Air

Light

Prayer

I don’t want to be remembered, I want to be here!

Life

Remembered

Want

I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.

Firsts

Iceland

Stories

I have a deep and ongoing love of Iceland, particular the landscape, and when writing Burial Rites, I was constantly trying to see whether I could distill its extraordinary and ineffable qualities into a kind of poetry.

Iceland

Trying

Writing

I have made a mistake. They condemn me to death and I ask for a boy to coach me for it. A red-headed boy, who gobbles his buttered bread and toddles to his horse with the seat of his pants wet, this is the young man they hope will get me on my knees, full of prayer. This is the young man I hope will be able to help me, although with what and how I cannot think.

Horse

Mistake

Prayer

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Air

Beautiful

Bird

Bones

Broken Heart

Buttons

Cracks

Dark

Different

Done

Doubt

Dove

Eggs

Feelings

Firsts

Foe

Guilt

Hateful

Heart

Home

Horse

Ice

Iceland

Kindness

Lambs

Life

Light

Listening

Lonely

Long

Memories

Mind

Miserable

Mistake

Mountain

My Family

People

Persons

Prayer

Ravens

Real

Remembered

Self

Sight

Sitting Down

Stories

Talking

Together

Treachery

Trouble

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent

…dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.

A bubble of fear passes up my spine. It’s the feeling of standing on ice and suddenly hearing it crack under your weight – both thrilling and terrifying together.

As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to let it all unravel.

Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.

Endless days of dark indoors and hateful glances are enough to set a rime on anyone’s bones.

I don’t want to be remembered, I want to be here!

I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.

I have a deep and ongoing love of Iceland, particular the landscape, and when writing Burial Rites, I was constantly trying to see whether I could distill its extraordinary and ineffable qualities into a kind of poetry.

Get Social with TBU

Topics by Hannah Kent

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

Menu

Menu