As for fame, fame felt like nothing. Fame was not a sensation like love or hunger or loneliness, welling from within and invisible to the outside eye. It was rather entirely external, coming from the minds of others. It existed in the way people looked at him or behaved towards him. In that, being famous was no different from being gay, or Jewish, or from a visible minority: you are who you are, and then people project onto you some notion they have.
Yann MartelThe blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.
Yann MartelSurvival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one's life away.
Yann MartelI was not wounded in any part of my body, but I had never experienced such intense pain, such a ripping of the nerves, such an ache of the heart.
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