Pi Survival Quotes

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All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I had to stop hoping so much that a ship would rescue me. I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and to do too little. Survival 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 Martel (Life of Pi)
When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I did not count the days or the weeks or the months. Time is an illusion that only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time.
Yann Martel
What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell. I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape. For example - I wonder - could you tell my jumbled story in exactly one hundred chapters, not one more, not one less? I'll tell you, that's one thing I have about my nickname, the way the number runs on forever. It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse. That bungled goodbye hurts me to this day. I wish so much that I'd had one last look at him in the lifeboat, that I'd provoked him a little, so that I was on his mind. I wish I had said to him then - yes, I know, to a tiger, but still - I wish I had said, "Richard Parker, it's over. We have survived. Can you believe it? I owe you more gratitude than I can express I couldn't have done it without you. I would like to say it formally: Richard Parker, thank you. Thank you for saving my life. And now go where you must. You have known the confined freedom of a zoo most of your life; now you will know the free confinement of a jungle. I wish you all the best with it. Watch out for Man. He is not your friend. But I hope you will remember me as a friend. I will never forget you , that is certain. You will always be with me, in my heart. What is that hiss? Ah, our boat has touched sand. So farewell, Richard Parker, farewell. God be with you.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Survival 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 Martel (Life of Pi)
Time is an illusion that only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time." Page 212.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I wept like a child. It was not because I was overcome at having survived my ordeal, though I was. Nor was it the presence of my brothers and sisters, though that too was very moving. I was weeping because ....fill in the blank with whatever/whoever helped you survive... had left me so unceremoniously.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
One might even argue that if an animal could choose with intelligence, it would opt for living in a zoo, since the major difference between a zoo and the wild is the absence of parasites and enemies and the abundance of food in the first, and their respective abundance and scarcity in the second. Think about it yourself. Would you rather be put up at the Ritz with free room service and unlimited access to a doctor or be homeless without a soul to care for you?... But I don't insist. I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Mockery be damned, my urine looked delicious.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Come aboard if your destination is oblivion - it should be our next stop.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Time is an illusion that only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn’t be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You must make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get happiness where you can. You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusion about freedom plague them both.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
And I survived because I made a point of forgetting.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Mr. Piscine Molitor Patel, Indian citizen, is an astounding story of courage and endurance in the face of extraordinarily difficult and tragic circumstances. In the experience of this investigator, his story is unparalleled in the history of shipwrecks. Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I don’t mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I have to turn miracle into routine.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I began to wait. My thoughts swung wildly. I was either fixed on practical details of immediate survival or transfixed by pain, weeping silently, my mouth open and my hands on my head.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
In my experience, a castaways's worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little. Survival 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 Martel (Life of Pi)
living in cities was one of the things which caused humans to rely on maths. But which part of city living is recorded in our longest-surviving mathematical documents? Brewing beer. Beer gave us some of humankind’s first calculations.
Matt Parker (Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors)
I do admire the new breed of fictional female PI's. The ones who'll survive a throttling, a kidnapping, a punch in the kidneys from a Mafia goon and then wind up the evening making love to a helicopter pilot. In the helicopter. I think I need more time at the gym.
Cynthia Lawrence (Take-Out City)
And I survived because I made a point of forgetting. My story started on a calendar day—July 2nd, 1977—and ended on a calendar day—February 14th, 1978—but in between there was no calendar. I did not count the days or the weeks or the months. Time is an illusion that only makes us pant.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell. I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape. For example - I wonder - could you tell my jumbled story in exactly one hundred chapters, not one more, not one less? I'll tell you, that's one thing I have about my nickname, the way the number runs on forever. It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse. That bungled goodbye hurts me to this day. I wish so much that I'd had one last look at him in the lifeboat, that I'd provoked him a little, so that I was on his mind. I wish I had said to him then - yes, I know, to a tiger, but still - I wish I had said, "Richard Parker, it's over. We have survived. Can you believe it? I owe you more gratitude than I can express I couldn't have done it without you.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
The voice said, “I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
The list wasn't just a distraction for her anymore. She'd learned how to fight for something you believe in from Attics Finch; she'd learned how to survive with a tiger like Pi; she'd learned never to stay in a creepy house in Cornwall, maybe just go to a B&B or something instead' and from Amir in The Kite Runner she'd discovered it was never too late to do the right thing.
Sara Nisha Adams (The Reading List)
I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive. Whatever the reason for wanting to escape, sane or insane, zoo detractors should realize that animals don’t escape to somewhere but from something. Something within their territory has frightened them—the intrusion of an enemy, the assault of a dominant animal, a startling noise—and set off a flight reaction.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
I was weeping because Richard Parker left me so unceremoniously. It broke my heart… After all we had been through he didn’t even look back. But I have to believe in his eyes there was more than my own reflection staring back at me. I know it, I felt it. Even if I can’t prove it… I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye… I wish I had said. It’s over, we survived, thank you for saving my life, I love you… you will always be with me. But I can’t be with you.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Il serra ses mains en poings et se força à marcher à pas lents et mesurés vers la tombe et commença à haleter. Bon sang, il ne pouvait pas s’écrouler. Il voulait le faire, il avait besoin de le faire, besoin de voir ce qu’il pourrait retirer de ce rappel physique de sa propre mortalité éphémère. Peut-être que cela lui donnerait envie de vivre à nouveau. Il lut les dates de décès marquées sur les pierres tombales, en faisant attention à ne pas marcher sur les tombes des autres pauvres enfants morts, d’année en année, jusqu’à ce qu’il voit son nom. JULIETTE ANNE MARTIN 14 août 1991-9 octobre 2008 Fille bien-aimée. Il n’y avait pas d’ours, de plaques ou même d’anges comme il en avait vu sur les autres pierres tombales, alors qu’il cherchait la sienne. Elle était gris foncé, en marbre et très élégante. Ses jambes se dérobèrent sous lui quand il réalisa que son amie, sa Juliette, gisait à ses pieds, et il atterrit sur la terre molle à côté d’elle. Les fleurs oubliées tombèrent au sol et des sanglots secs ravagèrent son corps. Il ne pleurerait pas, il le savait. Il était incapable de pleurer depuis cette nuit-là. Tout comme il ne supportait plus d’être touché, il ne pouvait éprouver le plus petit soulagement que les pleurs lui auraient accordé.
JP Barnaby (Aaron: Histoire d'un survivant #1 (French Edition))
The worst pair of opposites is boredom and terror. Sometimes your life is a pendulum swing from one to the other. The sea is without a wrinkle. There is not a whisper of wind. The hours last forever. You are so bored you sink into a state of apathy close to a coma. Then the sea becomes rough and your emotions are whipped into a frenzy. Yet even these two opposites do not remain distinct. In your boredom there are elements of terror: you break down into tears; you are filled with dread; you scream; you deliberately hurt yourself And in the grip of terror - the worst storm - you yet feel boredom, a deep weariness with it all. Only death consistently excites your emotions, whether contemplating it when life is safe and stale, or fleeing it when life is threatened and precious. Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You must make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
Scientific works and entire libraries were set to torch kindled by the insane religious fanatics. We have already mentioned the Bishop of Yucatan, who burned the entire native literature of the Maya in the 1560's, and Bishop Theophilus, who destroyed much of the remnants of the Library of Alexandria (391). The Christian Roman emperor Valens ordered the burning of non-Christian books in 373. In 1109, the crusaders captured Tripoli, and after the usual orgy of butchery typifying the crusades (through this one did not yet include the murderous Teutonic Knights), they burned over 100,000 books of Muslim learning. In 1204, the fourth crusade captured Constantinople and sacked it with horrors unparalleled even in the bloody age of the crusades; the classical works that had survived until then were put to the torch by crusaders in what is generally considered the biggest single loss to classical literature. In the early 15th century, Cardinal Ximenes (Jimenez), who succeeded Torquemada as Grand Inquisitor and was directly responsible for the cruel deaths of 2,500 persons, had a haul of 24,000 books burned at Granada.
Petr Beckman (A History of Pi)
faut tuer : abattre un Européen c'est faire d'une pierre deux coups, supprimer en même temps un oppresseur et un opprimé : restent un homme mort et un homme libre ; le survivant, pour la première fois, sent un sol national sous la plante de ses pieds. Dans
Frantz Fanon (Les damnés de la terre (Annoté) (Les œuvres de Frantz FANON t. 2) (French Edition))
Reality is exhausting. Sometimes you have to just turn your back on it for a while if you want to survive.
Kim M. Watt (Gobbelino London & A Complication of Unicorns (Gobbelino London, PI #3))
All my life I used the best lotions, finest soaps, nicest oils, and fanciest perfumes to keep my skin nice, only to find out I need thick, hard skin to survive. Oh, the irony.
Liz Faublas (You Have a Superpower: Mindi Pi Meets Ava "Why Can't I Go Outside")
I look up how long a person can survive buried alive. To my dismay, there are YouTube videos on this very thing. No wonder killers these days have no trouble committing crimes. Stupid people leave video instructions on how to pull them off.
Kelly Hashway (Drastic Crimes Call for Drastic Insights (Piper Ashwell Psychic P.I. Book 3))
Women have a high threshold for pain and tough appetites. We bite our tongues, survive heartache, function on one last nerve, pull punches, eat crap, swallow our pride, beat ourselves up, shoulder responsibility while performing the back-breaking task of staying a step ahead while standing tall against everything so we don't fall for anything!
Liz Faublas (You Have a Superpower: Mindi Pi Meets Ava "Why Can't I Go Outside")