“There was a time when mapmakers named the places they travelled through with the names of lovers rather than their own.” NamesLovers Author:Michael Ondaatje
“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on by body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography - to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience.” IfsMenBelieveBookCharacterBodyDiesNamesI BelieveWishRichRelationshipTreeBuildingLoversTasteMen And WomenRiversI Believe InLabelsMapsTribesCavesRichnessRich ManContainingCartography Author:Michael Ondaatje
“I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. ... All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps.” MenBelieveBookEarthNamesI BelieveWalksRichBuildingMen And WomenI Believe InLabelsMapsRich ManCartography Book:The English Patient: A Novel Source: The English Patient: A Novel
“A postcard. Neat handwriting fills the rectangle. Half my days I cannot bear to touch you. The rest of my time I feel like it doesn’t matter if I will ever see you again. It isn’t the morality, it’s how much you can bear. No date. No name attached.” IfsFeelsMatterNamesHalfBearsMoralityMy TimeNeatYou AgainHandwritingPostcardsRectangles 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.” ChildrenLongCountryHomeNamesGivenPiecesWindBattleHundredEuropeStonesDistanceEastOur CountryDesertLandscapeRemoveClothingsShiftingTreatiesCanterbury Author:Michael Ondaatje
“When we are young we do not look into mirrors. It is when we are old, concerned with our name, our legend, what our lives will mean to the future. We become vain with the names we own, our claims to have been the first eyes, the strongest army, the cleverest merchant. It is when he is old that Narcissus wants a graven image of himself.” WantFirstsLooksMeanHas BeensEyeYoungNamesOur LivesConcernedClaimsArmyMirrorsVainStrongestLegendsMerchantsNarcissus Book:The English Patient Source: The English Patient
“In the desert the most loved waters, like a lover's name, are carried blue in your hands, enter your throat. One swallows absence.” HandsNamesWaterLoversBlueAbsenceDesertThroat Book:The English Patient Source: The English Patient
“Read him slowly, dear girl, you must read Kipling slowly. Watch carefully where the commas fall so you can discover the natural pauses. He is a writer who used pen and ink. He looked up from the page a lot, I believe, stared through his window and listened to birds, as most writers who are alone do. Some do not know the names of birds, though he did. Your eye is too quick and North American. Think about the speed of his pen. What an appalling, barnacled old first paragraph it is otherwise.” ThinkingKnowsFirstsBelieveEyeUsedFallGirlNamesI BelieveNaturalWatchesPagesBirdWindowDearSpeedPensPausesInkParagraphKipling Book:The English Patient Source: The English Patient
