Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

By the next morning I had lost all fear of death, and I resolved to die.

What is sweetbread?” “Sweetbread is made from the pancreas of a calf.” “The pancreas!”

Huh

Man-eaters among animals are as rare as murderers among men,

He ripped the flesh off the man’s frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life.

I have read that there are two fears that cannot be trained out of us: the startle reaction upon hearing an unexpected noise, and vertigo. I would like to add a third, to wit, the rapid and direct approach of a known killer.

place a saltwater fish in fresh water and it will quickly become bloated and die.

The algae naturally and continuously desalinated sea water, which was why its core was salty while its outer surface was wet with fresh water: it was oozing the fresh water out.

I felt even my soul had been corroded by salt.

any change, even positive, will make an animal tense.

To survive for so long in a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger only to die up a tree at the hands of two-pound meerkats struck me as a tragedy too unfair and too ridiculous to bear.

If the island floated and moved, might it not move in the right direction? Might it not turn out to be a vegetable ship that brought me to land?

As soon as night had fallen, the algae had dissolved the rope with its acid.

Wild

Then Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful, fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life.

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.

Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer.

Reason is the very best tool kit.

“When your life has been given a reprieve, it’s impossible not to feel some warmth for the one to whom you owe that reprieve.

A knife has a horrible dynamic power; once in motion, it’s hard to stop.

story of sole survivor, Mr. Piscine Molitor Patel, Indian citizen, is an astounding story of courage and endurance in the face of extraordinarily difficult and tragic circumstances. In the experience of this investigator, his story is unparalleled in the history of shipwrecks. Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.