Colonialism is a terrible bane for a people upon whom it is imposed, but a blessing for a language. English's drive to exploit the new and the alien, its zeal in robbing words from other languages, its incapacity to feel qualms over the matter, its museum-size overabundance of vocabulary, it shoulder-shrug approach to spelling, its don't-worry-be-happy concern for grammar-the result was a language whose colour and wealth Henry loved.
Yann MartelLife on a lifeboat isnโt much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldnโt be more simple, nor the stakes higher.
Yann MartelI love Canada...It is a great country much too cold for good sense, inhabited by compassionate, intelligent people with bad hairdos.
Yann MartelIn my youth, it was my good luck to have a few good teachers, men and women, who came into my head and lit a match.
Yann Martel