You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
Yann MartelRead
I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the desire for simplistic narratives that ignore deeper truths and complexities.
Yann Martel's quote underscores a fundamental dissatisfaction with stories that merely affirm our existing beliefs without challenging or expanding our perspectives. It suggests that instead of seeking out narratives that offer comfort through familiarity, we should embrace stories that provoke thought, spark curiosity, and push us to explore beyond our current understanding of reality. The essence of storytelling, as invited by Martel, lies in its power to inspire transformation and broaden horizons.
Themes
StoryTruthPerspectiveNarrativeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion on narrative techniques, this quote can highlight the importance of challenging conventional storytelling.
More from Yann Martel
All quotes →Come aboard if your destination is oblivion- it should be our next stop. We can sit together. You can have the window seat if you want. But it's a sad view.
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Fiction and nonfiction are not so easily divided. Fiction may not be real, but it's true; it goes beyond the garland of facts to get to emotional and psychological truths.
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The moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear. The stars shone with such fierce, contained brilliance that it seemed absurd to call the night dark.
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I thought they were helping me. I was so full of trust in them that I felt grateful as they carried me in the air. Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts.
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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.
Yann MartelRead
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