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Michael Ondaatje Quotes

Novelist

Michael Ondaatje, born on September 12, 1943, is a renowned Canadian novelist. His works are known for their unique narrative style and profound emotional expression, with notable titles including 'In the Skin of a Lion' and 'The English Patient'.

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Famous Michael Ondaatje Quotes

“Politically I also don't believe anymore that we can only have one voice to a story, it's like having one radio station to represent a country. You want the politics of any complicated situation to be complicated in a book of fiction or nonfiction.”

Want Believe Book Country Stories Voice Fiction Situation Don't Believe Radio Complicated Stations Nonfiction Radio Stations

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“Politically I don't believe anymore that we can only have one voice to a story, it's like having one radio station to represent a country.”

Believe Country

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“The desert could not be claimed or owned — it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names before Canterbury existed, long before battles and treaties quilted Europe and the East ... All of us, even those with European homes and children in the distance, wished to remove the clothing of our countries. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into landscape.”

Children Long Country Home Names Given Pieces Wind Battle Hundred Europe Stones Distance East Our Country Desert Landscape Remove Clothings Shifting Treaties Canterbury

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“We own the country we grow up in, or we are aliens and invaders.”

Country Grows Growing Up Aliens Invaders

Book:Running in the Family

Source: Running in the Family

“He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light”

Country Light Fire Air Torches

Book:In the Skin of a Lion

Source: In the Skin of a Lion

“The rulers of the country generally believed that betting eliminates strikes. Men had to work in order to gamble.”

Men Country Order Strikes Gambling Rulers Gamble Betting

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries.”

Want Feels Country Home House Citizens Members Sri Lanka

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“Every immigrant family, it seems, has someone who does not belong in the new country they have come to. It feels like permanent exile to that one brother or wife who cannot stand a silent fate in Boston or London or Melbourne. I’ve met many who remain haunted by the persistent ghost of an earlier place.”

Feels Doe Country Seems Wife Fate Brother Mets Silent London Ghost Permanent Immigrants Exile Persistent Boston Melbourne

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“It's an odd state to be in, blowing the whistle on your home country.”

Country States Home Odd Home Country

Author:Michael Ondaatje

About the Author

Born: September 12, 1943
Known for: Novelist
Quotes: 200

Books & Sources

The English PatientRelated source material

DivisaderoRelated source material

In the Skin of a LionRelated source material

The Cat's TableRelated source material

Running in the FamilyRelated source material

Coming Through SlaughterRelated source material

The English Patient: A NovelRelated source material

The English Patient: Special EditionRelated source material

WarlightRelated source material

Anil's GhostRelated source material

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