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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.”

PeopleIfsCoursesRealizingAnimalOpinionResearchIdealsDecentJailAcceptableSurvivedFlexibleZoosBest PlaceTanzania
Author:Yann Martel
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“To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures who people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you. It is like losing--I'm sorry, I would rather not go on.”

PeopleGivingWellsPhilosophyHelpingLawMotherFatherLosesSupportSunGrowingTreeShareBrotherGoes OnCreaturesLosingSorryGuidanceBranchesI'm SorryGrowing OldIn-lawsTrunksSupport YouNephewNieceSister In LawTree TrunksLife Of Pi BookNiece And Nephew
Book:Life of Pi
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“These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart.”

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Book:Life Of Pi, Illustrated
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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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“God is universal," spluttered the priest. The imam nodded strong approval. "There is only one God." "And with their one god Muslims are always causing troubles and provoking riots. The proof of how bad Islam is, is how uncivilized Muslims are,: pronounced the pandit. "Says the slave-driver of the cast system," huffed the imam. "Hindus enslave people and worship dressed-up dolls." "They are golden calf lovers. They kneel before the cows," the priest chimed in. "While Christians kneel before a white man! They are flunkies of a foreign god. They are nightmare of all nonwhite people.”

PeopleMenChristianStrongWhiteTroubleLoversWorshipUniversalSlaveIslamCastsProofGoldenNightmarePriestsDriversCowsApprovalProvokingWhite ManDollsRiotDressed UpCalvesUncivilizedCausing TroublePandit
Book:Life of Pi
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“People move because of the wear and tear of anxiety. Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others. Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that *they* might do all right but not their children. Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere else.”

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Book:Life Of Pi, Illustrated
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“As for fame, fame felt like nothing. Fame was not a sensation like love or hunger or loneliness, welling from within and invisible to the outside eye. It was rather entirely external, coming from the minds of others. It existed in the way people looked at him or behaved towards him. In that, being famous was no different from being gay, or Jewish, or from a visible minority: you are who you are, and then people project onto you some notion they have.”

PeopleWayMindDifferentEyeFeltLonelinessGayFameProjectsWho You AreNotionHungerInvisibleVisibleMinoritiesSensationsLike LoveBeing GayBeing Famous
Book:Beatrice & Virgil
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“Colonialism is a terrible bane for a people upon whom it is imposed, but a blessing for a language. English's drive to exploit the new and the alien, its zeal in robbing words from other languages, its incapacity to feel qualms over the matter, its museum-size overabundance of vocabulary, it shoulder-shrug approach to spelling, its don't-worry-be-happy concern for grammar-the result was a language whose colour and wealth Henry loved.”

PeopleLoveFeelsMatterAgeLanguageWealthResultsWorryTerribleBlessingApproachConcernSizeShouldersAliensColourMuseumsColonialismVocabularyGrammarExploitsZealSpellingRobbingBaneIncapacityQualmsQualms AboutDon't Worry Be HappyOverabundance
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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