# Quote — Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

> “When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures. Meaning—human meaning, that is—is defined by them. You have to admit that.”

- Author: [Margaret Atwood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood.md)
- Book: [Oryx and Crake](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood#Oryx_and_Crake_(2003)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake/when-any-civilization

## More from this book

> “I am not my childhood," Snowman says out loud.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake/i-am-not.md)

> “There's something to be said for hunger: at least it lets you know you're still alive.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake/theres-something-to-be-said.md)

> “He has to find more and better ways of occupying his time. His time, what a bankrupt idea, as if he's been given a box of time belonging to him alone, stuffed to the brim with hours and minutes that he can spend like money. Trouble is, the box has holes in it and the time is running out, no matter what he does with it.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-atwood/oryx-and-crake/he-has-to-find.md)