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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 Life of Pi (2001)

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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.

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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.