Quote

I thought they were helping me. I was so full of trust in them that I felt grateful as they carried me in the air. Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts.

Yann Martel

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Yann Martel
Age: 61
Born: 1963
Born: June 25
Author
Novelist
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
Begin
Trust
Doubt
Overboard
Full
Threw
Felt
Doubts
Helping
Carried
Thought
Grateful
Air

More quotes by Yann Martel

Image
I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he's not careful.
Yann Martel
Image
The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering. I should turn to God
Yann Martel
Image
I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on this murderous island.
Yann Martel
Image
If there's only one nation in the sky, shouldn't all passports be valid for it?
Yann Martel
Image
I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.
Yann Martel
Image
The planet is populated by human beings, of which there are only two sexes, and the role of the writer is to explore otherness, other realities. So the idea of a man exploring what it's like to be a woman doesn't strike me as being that wild or crazy an idea.
Yann Martel
Image
But I want to pray to Allah. I want to be a Christian.
Yann Martel
Image
For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out.
Yann Martel
Image
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
Image
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.
Yann Martel
Image
It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.
Yann Martel
Image
Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an unforgiving social hierarchy in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low and where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forever endured.
Yann Martel
Image
...if you fall into a lion's pit, the reason the lion will tear you to pieces is not because it's hungry-be assured, zoo animals are amply fed-or because it's bloodthirsty, but because you've invaded it's territory.
Yann Martel
Image
Don’t you bully me with your politeness!
Yann Martel
Image
Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you Richard Parker!
Yann Martel
Image
First wonder goes deepest wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first.
Yann Martel
Image
You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.
Yann Martel
Image
It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.
Yann Martel
Image
Don’t worry about being good…. Aspire to be authentic.
Yann Martel
Image
Just as art brings you to another place, so does religion - and to ask questions of factuality tends to reduce both. If you say you were inspired by a novel, that implies that your book is a work of fiction.
Yann Martel