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Michael Ondaatje Quotes

She had a laugh that hinted it had rolled around once or twice in the mud Picture Quote #1

Water is the exile, carried back in cans and flasks, the ghost between your hands and your mouth Picture Quote #1

In the desert the most loved waters, like a lover’s name, are carried blue in your hands, enter your throat. One swallows absence Picture Quote #1

... the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds Picture Quote #1

He will hear the rain before he feels it, a clicking on the dry grass, on the olive leaves Picture Quote #1

This was the time in her life that she fell upon books as the only door out of her cell. They became half her world Picture Quote #1

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He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light Picture Quote #1

There is a story, always ahead of you. Barely existing. Only gradually do you attach yourself to it and feed it. You discover the carapace that will contain and test your character. You will find in this way the path of your life Picture Quote #1

Over the years, confusing fragments, lost corners of stories, have a clearer meaning when seen in a new light, a different place Picture Quote #1

I am someone who has a cold heart. If I am beside a great grief I throw barriers up so the loss cannot go too deep or too far. There is a wall instantly in place, and it will not fall Picture Quote #1

I am not in love with him, I am in love with ghosts. So is he, he’s in love with ghosts Picture Quote #1

I have to teach myself not to read too much into everything. It comes from too long having to read into hardly anything at all Picture Quote #1

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One of the things that happens in novels it’s almost like a continual debate with yourself. That’s why you’re writing the book. It’s why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself Picture Quote #1

A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands, knowing it is something that feeds him more than water Picture Quote #1

The rulers of the country generally believed that betting eliminates strikes. Men had to work in order to gamble Picture Quote #1

We keep wanting to save those who are forlorn in this world. It’s a male habit Picture Quote #1

What began it all was the bright bone of a dream I could hardly hold onto Picture Quote #1

There are betrayals in war that are childlike compared with our human betrayals during peace. The new lovers enter the habits of the other. Things are smashed, revealed in a new light. This is done with nervous or tender sentences, although the heart is an organ of fire Picture Quote #1

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What he would say, he cannot say to this woman whose openness is like a wound, whose youth is not mortal yet. He cannot alter what he loves most in her, her lack of compromise, where the romance of the poems she loves still sits with ease in the real world. Outside these qualities he knows there is no order in the world Picture Quote #1

You think that you are an iconoclast, but you’re not. You just move, or replace what you cannot have. If you fail at something, you retreat into something else. Nothing changes you... I left you because I knew I could never change you. You would stand in the room so still sometimes, as if the greatest betrayal of yourself would be to reveal one more inch of your character Picture Quote #1

She is a woman of honour and smartness whose wild leaves out luck, always taking risks, and there is something in her brow now, that only she can recognize in a mirror. Ideal and idealistic in that shiny dark hair! People fall in love with her. She is a woman I don’t know well enough to hold in my wing, if writers have wings, to harbour for the rest of my life Picture Quote #1

I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books... All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps Picture Quote #1

She lights a match in the dark hall and moves it onto the wick of the candle. Light lifts itself onto her shoulders. She is on her knees. She puts her hands on her thighs and breathes in the smell of the sulphur. She imagines she slap breathes in light Picture Quote #1

Moments before sleep are when she feels most alive, leaping across fragments of the day, bringing each moment into the bed with her like a child with schoolbooks and pencils. The day seems to have no order until these times, which are like a ledger for her, her body full of stories and situations Picture Quote #1

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She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awaking from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams Picture Quote #1

A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands knowing it is something more than water. There is a plant whose heart, if one cuts it out is replaced with fluid containing herbal goodness. Every morning one can drink the liquid amount of the missing heart Picture Quote #1

Tell me, is it possible to love someone who is not as smart as you are?... But isn’t it important for you to think she is smarter than you in order to fall in love?... Why is that? Because we want to know things, how the pieces fit. Talkers seduce, words direct us into corners. We want more than anything to grow and change. Brave new world Picture Quote #1

What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power. Nothing much of lasting value ever happens at the head table, held together by a familiar rhetoric. Those who already have power continue to glide along the familiar rut they have made for themselves Picture Quote #1

You have to protect yourself from sadness. Sadness is very close to hate. Let me tell you this. This is the thing I learned. If you take in someone else’s poison – thinking you can cure them by sharing it – you will instead store it within you. Those men in the desert were smarter than you. They assumed he could be useful. So they saved him, but when he was no longer useful they left him Picture Quote #1

Some people you just had to embrace, in some way or another, had to bite into the muscle, to remain sane in their company. You needed to grab their hand and clutch it like a downer so they would pull you into their midst. Otherwise they, walking casually down the street towards you, almost about to wave, would leap over a wall and be gone for months Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

She had a laugh that hinted it had rolled around once or twice in the mud (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) Water is the exile, carried back in cans and flasks, the ghost between your hands and your mouth (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) In the desert the most loved waters, like a lover’s name, are carried blue in your hands, enter your throat. One swallows absence (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) ... the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) He will hear the rain before he feels it, a clicking on the dry grass, on the olive leaves (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) This was the time in her life that she fell upon books as the only door out of her cell. They became half her world (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) There is a story, always ahead of you. Barely existing. Only gradually do you attach yourself to it and feed it. You discover the carapace that will contain and test your character. You will find in this way the path of your life (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) Over the years, confusing fragments, lost corners of stories, have a clearer meaning when seen in a new light, a different place (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) I am someone who has a cold heart. If I am beside a great grief I throw barriers up so the loss cannot go too deep or too far. There is a wall instantly in place, and it will not fall (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) I am not in love with him, I am in love with ghosts. So is he, he’s in love with ghosts (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) I have to teach myself not to read too much into everything. It comes from too long having to read into hardly anything at all (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) One of the things that happens in novels it’s almost like a continual debate with yourself. That’s why you’re writing the book. It’s why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands, knowing it is something that feeds him more than water (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) The rulers of the country generally believed that betting eliminates strikes. Men had to work in order to gamble (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) We keep wanting to save those who are forlorn in this world. It’s a male habit (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) What began it all was the bright bone of a dream I could hardly hold onto (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) There are betrayals in war that are childlike compared with our human betrayals during peace. The new lovers enter the habits of the other. Things are smashed, revealed in a new light. This is done with nervous or tender sentences, although the heart is an organ of fire (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) What he would say, he cannot say to this woman whose openness is like a wound, whose youth is not mortal yet. He cannot alter what he loves most in her, her lack of compromise, where the romance of the poems she loves still sits with ease in the real world. Outside these qualities he knows there is no order in the world (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) You think that you are an iconoclast, but you’re not. You just move, or replace what you cannot have. If you fail at something, you retreat into something else. Nothing changes you... I left you because I knew I could never change you. You would stand in the room so still sometimes, as if the greatest betrayal of yourself would be to reveal one more inch of your character (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) She is a woman of honour and smartness whose wild leaves out luck, always taking risks, and there is something in her brow now, that only she can recognize in a mirror. Ideal and idealistic in that shiny dark hair! People fall in love with her. She is a woman I don’t know well enough to hold in my wing, if writers have wings, to harbour for the rest of my life (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books... All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) She lights a match in the dark hall and moves it onto the wick of the candle. Light lifts itself onto her shoulders. She is on her knees. She puts her hands on her thighs and breathes in the smell of the sulphur. She imagines she slap breathes in light (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) Moments before sleep are when she feels most alive, leaping across fragments of the day, bringing each moment into the bed with her like a child with schoolbooks and pencils. The day seems to have no order until these times, which are like a ledger for her, her body full of stories and situations (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awaking from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands knowing it is something more than water. There is a plant whose heart, if one cuts it out is replaced with fluid containing herbal goodness. Every morning one can drink the liquid amount of the missing heart (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) Tell me, is it possible to love someone who is not as smart as you are?... But isn’t it important for you to think she is smarter than you in order to fall in love?... Why is that? Because we want to know things, how the pieces fit. Talkers seduce, words direct us into corners. We want more than anything to grow and change. Brave new world (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power. Nothing much of lasting value ever happens at the head table, held together by a familiar rhetoric. Those who already have power continue to glide along the familiar rut they have made for themselves (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) You have to protect yourself from sadness. Sadness is very close to hate. Let me tell you this. This is the thing I learned. If you take in someone else’s poison – thinking you can cure them by sharing it – you will instead store it within you. Those men in the desert were smarter than you. They assumed he could be useful. So they saved him, but when he was no longer useful they left him (Michael Ondaatje Quotes) Some people you just had to embrace, in some way or another, had to bite into the muscle, to remain sane in their company. You needed to grab their hand and clutch it like a downer so they would pull you into their midst. Otherwise they, walking casually down the street towards you, almost about to wave, would leap over a wall and be gone for months (Michael Ondaatje Quotes)

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