You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
Yann MartelRead
Dawn came and matters were worse for it. Because now, emerging from the darkness, I could see, what before I had only felt, the great curtains of rain crashing down on me from towering heights and the waves that threw a path over me and trod me underfoot one after another.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the harsh realities that become apparent when faced with the light of day, contrasting hope with despair.
In this quote, Yann Martel conveys the idea that the arrival of dawn, typically associated with new beginnings and hope, also brings clarity to the darker truths that one might have only felt in the dark. The imagery of rain and waves suggests overwhelming challenges that seem more daunting in the light, highlighting the paradox of gaining awareness while simultaneously confronting intensified struggles.
Themes
DawnDarknessRealityStruggleHopeDespair
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
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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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.
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