Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

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

Alas, the sense of community that a common faith brings to a people

These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out.

The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defence, not God’s, that the self-righteous should rush.

To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well,

necessity is the mother of invention, how very true.

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. 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 like a spy.

you have the will to live, you will.

Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love—but

It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God.

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. That

you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?”