Quote

I wish I could convey the perfection of a seal slipping into water or a spider monkey swinging from point to point or a lion merely turning its head. But language founders in such seas. Better to picture it in your head if you want to feel it.

Yann Martel

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Yann Martel
Age: 61
Born: 1963
Born: June 25
Author
Novelist
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
Head
Monkeys
Spider
Point
Founders
Seals
Water
Lions
Slipping
Language
Turning
Monkey
Wish
Picture
Seas
Perfection
Convey
Better
Merely
Spiders
Swinging
Feel
Sea
Lion
Seal
Feels

More quotes by Yann Martel

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There is nothing more satisfying than having a sentence fall into place in a way you feel is right, and then adding another one and then another one. It's extraordinarily satisfying.
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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.
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I have a story that will make you believe in God.
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There's no peace like the peace of an inner courtyard on a sunny day.
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Truth is a nebulous thing. There are certain, definite truths, but the truth of our lives goes far beyond facts.
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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.
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Just as music is noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a story is life that makes sense.
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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.
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I couldn't get Him out of my head. Still can't. I spent three solid days thinking about Him. The more He bothered me, the less I coul forget Him. And the more I learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave Him.
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Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.
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You may not believe in life, but I don't believe in death. Move on!
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Fanatics do not have faith - they have belief. With faith you let go. You trust. Whereas with belief you cling.
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The tennis challenger starts strong but soon loses confidence in his playing. The champion racks up the games. But in the final set, when the challenger has nothing left to lose, he becomes relaxed again, insouciant, daring. Suddenly he's playing like the devil and the champion must work hard to get those last points.
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Most people take who they are, naturally, as a given, and they're interested in the sexual other, but not in being the sexual other. Most men are interested in women - whether sexually or not is not the question - but they don't necessarily want to be a woman.
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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.
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Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now.
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I felt I was beating a rainbow to death
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My greatest wish - other than salvation - was to have a book.
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The idea of a flip book still really appeals to me. That idea of fiction and non-fiction.
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Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.
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