In art, something comes of nothing. Out of the thin air and the ether, you create a story. And that is intensely satisfying.
YANN MARTELI wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient being I had ever killed. I was now a killer. I was now as guilty as Cain. I was sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious, and now I had blood on my hands. It’s a terrible burden to carry. All sentient life is sacred.
More Yann Martel Quotes
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We always see the Holocaust in terms of black-and-white images, barking Germans, cowering Jews.
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He’s a shy man. Life has taught him not to show off what is most precious to him.
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I can well imagine an athiest’s last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My God!” – and the deathbed leap of faith.
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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.
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Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.
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You bring joy and pain in equal measure. Joy because you are with me, but pain because it wont be for long.
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Can there be any happiness greater than the happiness of salvation?
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Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.
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It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.
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It’s amazing how willpower can build walls.
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As much as I love movies, it would be presumptuous of me to think that I know how to make one.
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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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Art is a gift: you create and then you give away. How readers receive that gift is their business. If they hate it, that’s their response to it. Others respond by liking it. Either way, that is their interaction with the book, which is no longer mine.
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I am not a particularly natural writer. I am not a person who can write in paragraphs the way some writers do. For me, it’s sentence by sentence, sometimes word-by-word. And I revise constantly. It’s a very laborious process, but I love doing it.
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My suffering left me sad and gloomy.
YANN MARTEL