You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
Yann MartelRead
Reality is how we interpret it. Imagination and volition play a part in that interpretation. Which means that all reality is to some extent a fiction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reality is subjective and influenced by our imagination and choices.
Yann Martel's quote suggests that our perception of reality is not an absolute truth but rather a personal interpretation shaped by our thoughts, imagination, and will. This idea emphasizes the role of individual perspective in constructing what we consider to be real, implying that there is a blend of fact and fiction in our understanding of the world.
Themes
RealityImaginationInterpretationSubjectivityFiction
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophical discussion, one could use this quote to illustrate how different people perceive the same event differently.
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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