I meet a number of people as a writer of fiction who say "Oh, I don't read much fiction," as if the history of the United States, just as an example, isn't an exercise in storytelling and myth-making. Yann Martel More Quotes by Yann Martel More Quotes From Yann Martel Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science. Yann Martel baseballdrinkingsex To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. Yann Martel philosophylifemean Truth is a nebulous thing. There are certain, definite truths, but the truth of our lives goes far beyond facts. Yann Martel truth-iscertainfacts It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names. Yann Martel life-of-pi-booknamessometimes If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. Yann Martel prayerphilosophymoving The presence of God is the finest of rewards. Yann Martel finestrewardspresence-of-god I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion. Yann Martel brotherhoodchallengesbeautiful 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. Yann Martel giving-uphard-workheart Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud. Yann Martel jealousbeautifullife The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. Yann Martel soarmindwant I spent more hours than I can count a quiet witness to the highly mannered, manifold expressions of life that grace our planet. It is something so bright, loud, weird and delicate as to stupefy the senses. Yann Martel graceexpressionearth 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. Yann Martel emotionalrealfiction All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive. Yann Martel savinginspirationalmoving For the first time I noticed - as I would notice repeatedly during my ordeal, between one throe of agony and the next - that my suffering was taking place in a grand setting. I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized. And I could accept this. It was all right. Yann Martel agonynextsuffering It is a vast country, so that inspires you. It's also the greatest hotel on earth: It welcomes people from everywhere. It's a good country to write from because in many ways Canada is the world. Yann Martel writingcountrypeople It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. Yann Martel opponentsdefeatfear That's what fiction is about, isn't it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence? Yann Martel essencerealityfiction Time is an illusion that makes us all pant. Yann Martel illusion Misery loves company, and madness calls it forth. Yann Martel companymiserymadness Nature can put on a thrilling show. The stage is vast, the lighting is dramatic, the extras are innumerable, and the budget for special effects is absolutely unlimited. Yann Martel dramaticunlimitedspecial
