“India is a place where all stories are possible. You forget that the imagination can take hold of anything and contemplate it and love it and describe it.” StoriesImaginationForgetAnd LoveIndiaContemplating Author:Yann Martel
“The three religions because I wanted to discuss faith, not organized religion, so wanted to relativize organized religion by having Pi practice three. I would have like PI to be a Jew, too, to practice Judaism, but there are two religions that are explicitly incompatible: Christianity and Judaism. Where one begins, the other ends, according to Christians, and where one endures, the other strays, according to Jews.” TwoEndsWantedChristianThreeChristianityPracticeEndureJewOrganizedJudaismOrganized ReligionTwo ReligionsChristianity And Judaism Author:Yann Martel
“I go to mass every Sunday, but love going to mosques too. Muslims pray in a beautiful way.” WayBeautifulPrayingMassSundayMosques Author:Yann Martel
“People always seek to compare. They can take the new, but only if it is somehow connected to the familiar. We need that in our lives, the mix of the new and the old. But of course I'm flattered about the comparison with Old man and the sea. Hemingway is a great writer.” PeopleIfsMenNeedsCoursesOur LivesSeaConnectedFamiliarCompareComparisonOld ManGreat WritersFlattered Author:Yann Martel
“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
“Zoo is an artificial territory, an approximation. Civilization is our natural territory.” NaturalCivilizationTerritoryArtificialZoosApproximation Author:Yann Martel
“Sitting in an office for TOO long is not natural, perhaps, so that's why we should change it. I didn't say that out-and-out capitalism, which reduces humanity to dollar figures, is natural.” ShouldLongHumanityNaturalFiguresOfficeSittingCapitalismDollars Author:Yann Martel
“We think we live in a global village. We don't. The world is a big and beautiful and incredibly varied place. It can only be known locally, with your two feet on the ground. We should stick to our own gardens, as Voltaire said.” ThinkingWorldShouldSaidTwoBigsBeautifulKnownFeetGardenSticksVillageFeet On The GroundGlobal Village Author:Yann Martel
“The animals might embody certain traits. We think of tigers as being ferocious, etc. But to my mind, it was the other way around: the humans embodied certain animal traits.” ThinkingWayMindHumansMightCertainAnimalEtcTraitsTigers Author:Yann Martel
“Just do it. Get it down on the page. Work hard. And then let go. Ask yourself why you want to write. You have to be clear about that.” WantWritingHardAsksClearHard WorkLetting GoPagesJust Do It Author:Yann Martel