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592f75c
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This Son is a god who walked, a pedestrian god--and in a hot place, at that--with a stride like any human stride, the sandal reaching just above the rocks along the way; and when He splurged on transportation, it was a regular donkey. This Son is a god who died in three hours, with moans, gasps and laments. What kind of a god is that? What is there to inspire in this Son? Love, said Father Martin.
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Yann Martel |
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c80ff89
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Animals are also poisoned. And there are indecencies
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Yann Martel |
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abc6293
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I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I have to turn miracle into routine.
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Yann Martel |
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7abfa1b
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Tigers, indeed all animals, do not favour violence as a means of settling scores. When animals fight, it is with the intent to kill and with the understanding that they may be killed. A clash is costly. And so animals have a full system of cautionary signals designed to avoid a showdown, and they are quick to back down when they feel they can. Rarely will a tiger attack a fellow predator without warning .... It will appraise the situation. ..
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Yann Martel |
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9e0ec57
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People move in the hope of a better life.
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Yann Martel |
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c8b8cff
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seem to bear flowers or
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Yann Martel |
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938532b
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The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity- it's envy. 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.
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Yann Martel |
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0407f36
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L'ottimismo durevole puo essere il prodotto di una cosa sola: ragione. Ogni ottimismo irragionevole tende a essere sconfitto dalla realta e persino a sfociare in un'infelicita maggiore. L'ottimismo deve dunque essere fondato nella ragione, in essa incrollabilmente radicato, cosi che il pessimismo diventi un atteggiamento sciocco, miope. Essendo la ragionevolezza quella cosa ingloriosa e tiepida che e, cio significa che che l'ottimismo puo s..
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Yann Martel |
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8e4a078
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Zonder gekte zou geen enkele soort kunnen overleven.
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Yann Martel |
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e1de104
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I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape.
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Yann Martel |
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52dad20
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They would emerge a short distance away, sometimes three or four of them, a short lived archipelago of volcanic islands.
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Yann Martel |
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52fc681
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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. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation
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Yann Martel |
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8eeee4b
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People move because of the wear and tear of anxiety. Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others. Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that they might do all right but not their children. Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere..
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Yann Martel |
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9c3bb49
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avatar
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Yann Martel |
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1053774
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animals fight, it is with the intent to kill and with the understanding that they may be killed. A
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Yann Martel |
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9e998f7
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I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I now. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind l..
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inspirational
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Yann Martel |
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6b41376
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The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity - it's envy. 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.
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Yann Martel |
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858a3b5
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They never look very big on the table, the bodies. It's built to accommodate the largest frames, there's that. And they're naked. But it's something else. That parcel of the being called the soul-weighing twenty-one grams, according to the experiments of the American doctor Duncan MacDougall-takes up a surprising amount of space, like aloud voice. In its absence, the body seems to shrink
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death
dead-bodies
post-mortem
body
soul
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Yann Martel |
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239dc23
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The meerkats looked away. They did it like one man, all of them turning in the same direction at exactly the same time. I pulled myself out to see what it was. It was Richard Parker. He confirmed what I had suspected, that these meerkats had gone for so many generations without predators that any notion of flight distance, of flight, of plain fear, had been genetically weeded out of them. He was moving through them, blazing a trail of murde..
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Yann Martel |
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d690e47
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We are all born like Catholics, aren't we--in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to God? After that meeting the matter ends for most of us. If there is a change, it is usually for the lesser rather than the greater; many people seem to lose God along life's way.
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Yann Martel |
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2dbc58f
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I sang that tree's glory, its solid, unhurried purity, its slow beauty. Oh, that I could be like it, rooted to the ground but with my every hand raised up to God in praise!
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Yann Martel |
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3c31d92
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What if his words had the effect of polio on me? WHat a terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man.
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Yann Martel |
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3c49623
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wild are, in practice,
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Yann Martel |
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598e398
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and I knew what I wanted: I would settle in a hill station and write my novel. I had visions of myself at a table on a large veranda, my notes spread out in front of me next to a steaming cup of tea. Green hills heavy with mists would lie at my feet and the shrill cries of monkeys would fill my ears. The weather would be just tight, requiring a light sweater mornings and evenings, and something short-sleeved midday. Thus set up, pen in hand..
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Yann Martel |
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0b13299
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From Matheran I mailed the notes of my failed novel. I mailed them to fictitious address.
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Yann Martel |
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f8a8265
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Nevertheless, an Olympic pool is an Olympic pool, touched by immortal glory.
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Yann Martel |
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a4720ce
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This book was born as I was hungry. Let me explain.
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Yann Martel |
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f170e67
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Indeed, from my earliest years the idea of transformation has been central to my life. Naturally so, I suppose, being the child of diplomats. I changed schools, languages, countries and continents a number of times during my childhood. At each change I had the opportunity to re-create myself, to present a new facade, to bury past errors and misrepresentations.
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Yann Martel |
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1a2ee2e
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I gave up trying to find out. Any knowledge I might gain was useless. I had no means of controlling where I was going - no rudder, no sails, no motor, some oars, but insufficient brawn.
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Yann Martel |
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75ad167
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It's important in life to conclude things properly.Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.
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Yann Martel |
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ee653c5
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Then normal sank.
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Yann Martel |
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74f1882
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It would no longer be the small thing it was before, but the most important thing in the world, the thing that would save my life. This happened time and again.
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Yann Martel |
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ade202d
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Der Glaube an Gott ist ein Sichoffnen, ein Loslassen, ein tiefes Vertrauen, eine bedingungslose Liebe - aber manchmal war es so schwer zu lieben. Manchmal sank mein Herz vor Wut, Verzagtheit und Erschopfung so tief, dass ich befurchtete, es wurde bis ganz hinab auf den Grund des Pazifiks sinken und ich wurde es nie wieder heraufziehen konnen. In solchen Augenblicken versuchte ich mir Mut zu machen. Ich fasste mir an den Turban, den ich mir..
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life
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Yann Martel |
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d5551a5
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Now comes the difficult part: you must provoke the animal that is afflicting you. Tiger, rhinoceros, ostrich, wild boar, brown bear- no matter the beast, you must get its goat.
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Yann Martel |
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ec511c0
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It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness.
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the-struggle
purpose
wholeness
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Yann Martel |
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4cf4cad
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I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease.
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Yann Martel |
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0a4750e
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I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know it. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mi..
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fear
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Yann Martel |
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3853f8e
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We fight and fight and fight. We fight no matter the cost of battle, the losses we take, the improbability of success. We fight to the very end. It's not a question of courage. It's something constitutional, an inability to let go. It may be nothing more than life-hungry stupidity.
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Yann Martel |
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b429d1e
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Things floated in the water but none that brought me hope. I could see no other lifeboats.
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Yann Martel |
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d0a175f
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An intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and of ultimate purpose.
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Yann Martel |
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656fb08
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just beyond the ticket booth father had painted on a wall in bright red letters the question: DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? an arrow pointed to a small curtain. there were so many eager, curious hands that pulled at that curtain that we had to replace it regularly. behind it was a mirror
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informative
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Yann Martel |
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abffaf5
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a wandering corpse, a bundle of mindless functions,
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Yann Martel |
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afce665
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His father had been his sole supporter, telling him to live for his love for Dora, in precise opposition to his uncle's silent opprobrium. Dora was relegated to invisible duties deep within the kitchen. Gaspar lived equally invisibly in the Lobo household, invisibly loved by his father, who invisibly loved his mother.
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Yann Martel |
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1416bd3
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He was a man whose profession it was to love, and he would offer comfort and guidance to the best of his ability. I
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Yann Martel |