Skip to content

I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.

— Yann Martel Life of Pi (2001)

Another quote →

More quotes by Yann Martel

I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.

Life of Pi (2001)

Colonialism is a terrible bane for a people upon whom it is imposed, but a blessing for a language.

Beatrice & Virgil (2010)

To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

Life of Pi (2001)

To my mind, faith is like being in the sun. When you are in the sun, can you avoid creating a shadow?

Beatrice & Virgil (2010)

When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.

All Yann Martel quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Yann Martel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.