“He wants the minute and secret reflection between them, the depth of field minimal, their foreignness intimate like two pages of a… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
This was the time in her life that she fell upon books as the only door out of her cell. They became… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
There's always been anger in the making of music or literature or dance. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Yes, I think a lot happened here. This fountain in the wall. Pico and Lorenzo and Poliziano and the young Michelangelo. They… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
Read him slowly, dear girl, you must read Kipling slowly. Watch carefully where the commas fall so you can discover the natural… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
When I write my novels I don't really have a huge plan beforehand; I don't have the whole plot and architecture, so… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
I have to teach myself not to read too much into everything. It comes from too long having to read into hardly… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
You want to suggest something new, but at the same time, resolve the drama of the action in the novel. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
When I read biographies, I skip the first thirty pages about the childhood because it doesn't seem interesting to me. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
Her life with others no longer interests him. He wants only her stalking beauty, her theatre of expressions. He wants the minute… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
... the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Miss Lasqueti consumed mostly crime thrillers, which constantly seemed to disappoint her. I suspect that for her the world was more accidental… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Many books open with an author's assurance of order. One slipped into their waters with a silent paddle...But novels commenced with hesitation… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
It's a discovery of a story when I write a book, a case of inching ahead on each page and discovering what's… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
When I began to write novels, I wanted to keep that element of interaction with the reader that exists in poetry, not… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
As someone who writes novels that are often set in other periods of time or other ages or other landscapes, there's a… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Around three a.m. he feels a presence in the room. He sees, for the pulse of a moment, a figure at the… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
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.… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
The last three books are much more a case of a moment of history, what happened almost by accident or coincidence, like… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
So the books for the Englishman, as he listened intently or not, had gaps of plot like sections of a road washed… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“In spite of this, our table's status on the Oronsay continued to be minimal, while those at the Captain's Table were constantly toasting to… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
He will hear the rain before he feels it, a clicking on the dry grass, on the olive leaves. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Whenever her father was alone with a dog in a house he would lean over and smell the skin at the base of its… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“...those who had risked everything at a riverbend on a left turn and so discovered a fortune.” — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“All over the world there must be people like us, Anna had said then, wounded in some way by falling in love - seemingly… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
Her father had taught her about hands. About a dog's paws. Whenever her father was alone with a dog in a house he would… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power. Nothing much of lasting value ever happens at… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
From this point on, she whispered, we will either find or lose our souls. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“You know it is the most relaxed thing when you when you sit with a best friend and you know there is nothing you… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“There was no control except the " mood of his power... and it is for this reason it is good you never heard him… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
You're getting everyone's point of view at the same time, which for me, is the perfect state for a novel: a cubist state, the… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
