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Quote by Yann Martel

Work

Life of Pi

Yann Martel's 'Life of Pi' is a narrative that follows the young Pi Patel's extraordinary journey after a shipwreck leaves him adrift in the Pacific Ocean with a zoo of animals. The story combines elements of fantasy and realism, prompting readers to question the nature of reality and the limits of human endurance. more

Author

Yann Martel
Yann Martel

Yann Martel is a Canadian author known for his unique literary style and profound themes. His novel 'Life of Pi' won the Booker Prize in 2002 and became an international bestseller, propelling him to global recognition. Martel's works often explore deep questions of humanity and existence. more

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“...if in the heat of the dispute he insists and asks, 'Am I not the master of throwing myself out of the window?' I shall answer him, no; that whilst he preserves his reason there is no probability that the desire of proving his free agency, will become a motive sufficiently powerful to make him sacrifice his life to the attempt: if, notwithstanding this, to prove he is a free agent, he should actually precipitate himself from the window, it would not be a sufficient warranty to conclude he acted freely, but rather that it was the violence of his temperament which spurred him on to this folly. Madness is a state, that depends upon the heat of the blood, not upon the will. A fanatic or a hero, braves death as necessarily as a more phlegmatic man or a coward flies from it.”

MadnessMental IllnessFree WillDeterminism
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“Unmoor the boat, we could go…downriver... History is a collection of found objects washed up through time. Goods, ideas, personalities surface towards us and then sink away and some we hook out and others we ignore. And as the pattern changes so does the meaning. We cannot rely on the facts. Time that returns everything, changes everything. ..a bundle of abandoned clothes. The end of one identity and the beginning of another. …History is a madman's museum. I think I understand some of this, But it’s all subject to the tide. Unmoor the boat. Part miracle part madness. My life is a series of set sails and shipwrecks. I run aground I cut loose, the rim is dangerously near the waterline. I feel like a saint in a coracle. Head thrown back, sun on my throat. Unmoor the boat.”

IdentityMadnessUnmoor
Author:Jeanette Winterson
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