You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
Yann MartelRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Trust can blind us to the intentions of others until we experience betrayal.
This quote reflects the fragile nature of trust and how it can lead us to overlook harmful intentions. The speaker's realization comes only after experiencing betrayal, indicating that an excessive trust in others can leave us vulnerable to disappointment and pain. It serves as a reminder to evaluate our relationships and be aware of who we truly rely on.
Themes
TrustBetrayalVulnerabilityRelationshipsAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of discerning trust in relationships.
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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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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If you are pitched into misery, remember that your days on this earth are counted and you might as well make the best of those you have left.
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