You can't quantify human pain the way you can measure out sugar. Death comes one individual at a time.
Yann MartelRead
The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Death is closely tied to life not due to biological reasons, but because it is envious of the vitality and experiences of life.
This quote by Yann Martel suggests that the relationship between life and death is not merely biological but rather emotional. It implies that death, in its inevitability, covets the richness of life and sticks closely to it, perhaps to remind us of our mortality and to highlight the value of living fully. This perspective encourages us to appreciate our life and the experiences it offers while acknowledging the presence of death as a constant companion.
Themes
DeathLifeEnvyMortalityAppreciation
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, to reflect on the beauty of life despite the inevitability of death.
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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