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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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All Ifs Writing Book Stories Knows Novel Desert Hands Fall Lovers Want World Character Country Heart Love Men Way Names Thinking

Famous Michael Ondaatje Quotes

“...the heart is an organ of fire.”

Love Heart Fire Organs

Book:The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

“There are betrayals in war that are childlike compared with our human betrayals during peace. The new lovers enter the habits of the other. Things are smashed, revealed in a new light. This is done with nervous or tender sentences, although the heart is an organ of fire.”

Humans Heart War Done Light Fire Habit Lovers Betrayal Sentences Nervous Organs Childlike

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“Every night I cut out my heart. But in the morning it was full again”

Heart Night Morning Cutting My Heart Every Night

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“A love story is not about those who lost their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing—not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and the past.”

Heart Mean Stories Body Past Lost Social Sleep Grace Fool Habit Oneself Love Story Consuming Sullen Social Graces

Book:The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

“Fathers die.You keep on loving them in any way you can.You can't hide him away in your heart.”

Way Heart Dies Father

Book:The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

“A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands knowing it is something more than water. There is a plant whose heart, if one cuts it out is replaced with fluid containing herbal goodness. Every morning one can drink the liquid amount of the missing heart.”

Ifs Men Heart Hands Water Morning Knowing Cutting Missing Amount Drink Goodness Plant Absence Desert Every Morning Replaced Fluid Liquid Containing

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“Nowadays he doesn't think of his wife, though he knows he can turn around and evoke every move of her, describe any aspect of her, the weigh of her wrist on his heart during the night.”

Thinking Knows Heart Moving Night Turns Wife Aspect Evoke Wrists

Book:The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

“We all have an old knot in the heart we wish to untie.”

Love Heart Wish Loss Knots

Author:Michael Ondaatje

“I am someone who has a cold heart. If I am beside a great grief I throw barriers up so the loss cannot go too deep or too far. There is a wall instantly in place, and it will not fall.”

Ifs Heart Fall Loss Grief Wall Cold Barriers Too Deep Cold Heart

Book:The Cat's Table

Source: The Cat's Table

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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