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Yann Martel

Yann Martel Quotes

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Famous Yann Martel Quotes

“A zoo is not an ideal place for an animal - of course the best place for a chimp is the wilds of Tanzania - but a good zoo is a decent, acceptable place. Animals are far more flexible than we realize. IF they weren't, they wouldn't have survived. But my opinion about zoos came after research. Initially I had the opinion that most people have, that they are jails.”

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Author:Yann Martel
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“These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy...walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, 'Business as usual.' But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.”

PeopleIfsThinkingChildrenDifferentStoriesFacesWalksStreetsDegreesRedAngryPerceiveResolveChestsUsualFrighteningAstonishingWidowsRagsIndignationLeprosyAngry Words
Author:Yann Martel
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“How bitterly glad I am to see you. You bring joy and pain in equal measure. Joy because you are with me, but pain because it won't be for long. What do you know about the sea? Nothing. What do I know about the sea? Nothing. Without a driver this bus is lost. Our lives are over. Come aboard if your destination is oblivion-- It should be our next stop. We can sit together. You can have the window seat, if you want. But it's a sad view. Oh enough of this disembling. Let me say plainly: I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Not the spiders, please.”

IfsKnowsWantShouldLongEnoughPainTogetherJoyNextLostViewsOur LivesSeaLove YouPleaseEqualWindowLet MeGladSeatsDestinationDriversDo You KnowBusOblivionSpidersJoy And Pain
Author:Yann Martel
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“Progress is unstoppable. It is a drumbeat to which we must all march. Technology helps and good ideas spread – these are two lows of nature. If you don’t let technology help you, if you resist good ideas, you condemn yourself to dinosaurhood! I am utterly convinced of this.”

IfsTwoIdeasHelpingTechnologyProgressLowsSpreadConvincedMarchGood IdeasUnstoppable
Book:Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition
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“If you stumble over mere believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe? Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater”

IfsBelieveHardReasonProblemLife IsUniverseAsksLove IsRiskLoversBeatsToolsScientistMereBelieverExcellentReasonableThrowingClothingsShelterTigersLife Is HardHard To BelieveLove Is HardBelievability
Author:Yann Martel
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“I can well imagine an athiest's last words: "White, white! L-L-Love! My God!" - and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying "Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain," and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.”

IfsTryingWellsI CanEndsSelfStoriesLightMightLastsImaginationWhiteBrainImagineFailingMissingWarmDryReasonableLeapAgnosticLast WordsStay TrueDeathbedBathingLeap Of Faith
Book:Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition
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“For fear, real fear such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel when you are brought face to face with your mortal end, nestles in your memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it. So you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”

IfsFeelsRealEndsHardLightFacesFightingSpeakFearMemoriesForgetDarknessFoundationShiningManageMortalsOpponentsShakesDefeatedFace To FaceForget YouDefeated You
Book:Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition
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“I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.”

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Book:Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition
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“If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it you would be amazed at the animals that fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees, ruminants, in untold numbers. There is no doubt in my mind that that feral giraffes and feral hippos have been living in Tokyo for generations without seeing a soul.”

IfsMindHas BeensSoulWould BeFallAnimalNumbersCitiesDoubtSeeingGenerationsDown AndNo DoubtAmazedUpside DownCrocodilesTokyoLeopardsHippoGiraffeBaboonsBadgersOstrichesBoars
Book:Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition
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“Fiction and nonfiction are not so easily divided. Fiction may not be real, but it's true; it goes beyond the garland of facts to get to emotional and psychological truths. As for nonfiction, for history, it may be real, but its truth is slippery, hard to access, with no fixed meaning bolted to it. If history doesn't become story, it dies to everyone except the historian.”

IfsMayRealHardFactsStoriesDiesFictionEmotionalTruth IsAccessPsychologicalFixedDividedHistorianBeing RealNonfictionSlipperyGarlandsFiction And Nonfiction
Book:Beatrice and Virgil
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“To my mind, faith is like being in the sun. When you are in the sun, can you avoid creating a shadow? Can you shake that area of darkness that clings to you, always shaped like you, as if constantly to remind you of yourself? You can’t. This shadow is doubt. And it goes wherever you go as long as you stay in the sun. And who wouldn’t want to be in the sun?”

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Book:Beatrice and Virgil
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“If you went to a home, kicked down the front door, chased the people who lived there out into the street and said, Go! You are free! Free as a bird! Go! Go! - do you think they would shout and dance for joy? They wouldn't. Birds are not free. The people you've just evicted would sputter, With what right do you throw us out? This is our home. We own it. We have lived here for years. We're calling the police, you scoundrel.”

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Book:Life of Pi
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“And what of my extended family-birds, beasts, and reptiles? They too have drowned. Every single thing I value in life has been destroyed. And I am allowed no explanation? I am to suffer hell without any account from heaven? In that case, what is the purpose of reason, Richard Parker? Is it no more than to shine at practicalities-the getting of food, clothing and shelter? Why can't reason give greater answers? Why can we throw a question further than we can pull in an answer? Why such a vast net if there's so little fish to catch? (pg. 98)”

IfsGivingLittlesHas BeensReasonPurposeSufferingValuesHeavenAnswersCasesHellGreaterBirdAccountsShiningFishesDestroyedExplanationBeastClothingsShelterPracticalityValue Of LifeReptilesExtended Family
Book:Life of Pi
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