[margaret Thatcher] Admitted To Being The Daughter

History Offers Us Vicarious Experience. It Allows The Youngest Student To Possess The Ground Equally With His Elders; Without A Knowledge Of History To Give Him A Context For Present Events, He Is At The Mercy Of Every Social Misdiagnosis Handed To Him.

I Think The Monarchy Today Is. . . Mildly Interesting And Largely Harmless. I Can't Find I Can Get Very Heated About It. In The Next Couple Of Generations, It Is Bound To Go.

You Can Have A Silence Full Of Words. A Lute Retains, In Its Bowl, The Notes It Has Played. The Viol, In Its Strings, Holds A Concord. A Shriveled Petal Can Hold Its Scent, A Prayer Can Rattle With Curses; An Empty House, When The Owners Have Gone Out, Can Still Be Loud With Ghosts.

It Follows That If You Are Not A Mother You Are Not A Grandmother. Your Life Has Become Unpunctuated, Whereas The Lives Of Other Women Around You Have These Distinct Phases.

I Am Usually Protective Of My Work, Not Showing It To Anyone Until It Has Been Redrafted And Polished.