At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far.

Yann Martel

Categorized in : Thinking Wonder Moments

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.

emotional real fiction

Blessed be shock. Blessed be the part of us that protects us from too much pain and sorrow. At the heart of life is a fusebox.

pain blessed heart

My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push i... by Yann Martel

My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push into them and be registered.

ears sound

It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to get smaler as I grew older, train included. Now it's so small it fits in my head.

acres fit zoos

First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impressi... by Yann Martel

First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first.

fit wonder firsts

Life and death live and die in exactly the same spot, the body. It is from there that both babies and cancers are born.

cancer life-and-death baby

Stories--individual stories, family stories, national stories--are what stitch together the disparate elements of human existence into a coherent whole. We are story animals.

stories together animal

I felt I was beating a rainbow to death by Yann Martel

I felt I was beating a rainbow to death

rainbow felt

For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let ou... by Yann Martel

For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out.

has-beens evil

Books lined the shelves of bookstores like kids standing in a row to play baseball or soccer, and mine was the gangly, unathletic kid that no one wanted on their team.

team baseball soccer

Work, work, work, but what mark do we leave, what point do we make? People who are too beholden to work become like erasers: as things move forward, they leave in their wake no trace of themselves.

mark people moving

I have a story that will make you believe in God. by Yann Martel

I have a story that will make you believe in God.

believe-in-god stories believe

Life will defend itself no matter how small it is. by Yann Martel

Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.

matter

Books, like people, can't be reduced to the cost of the materials with which they were made. Books, like people, become unique and precious once you get to know them.

unique book people

Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they've known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? ... The answer is the same the world over: people move in the hope of a better life.

horizon people moving

Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love—but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up.

opening-up letting-go heart

I was not wounded in any part of my body, but I had never experienced such intense pain, such a ripping of the nerves, such an ache of the heart.

nerves pain heart

Religion?" Mr Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe in religion... by Yann Martel

Religion?" Mr Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe in religion. Religion is darkness.

dont-believe darkness believe

The moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear. The stars shone with such fierce, contained brilliance that it seemed absurd to call the night dark.

stars moon dark

Christianity is a religion in a rush. Look at the world created in seven says. Even on a symbolic lovel, that's creation in frenzy.

christianity looks world