But we were interested in how our lives could mean something to the past. We sailed into the past. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Seas move away, why not lovers? The harbours of Ephesus, the rivers of Heraclitus disappear and are replaced by estuaries of silt.… — 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
He walked out of the hospital into the sun, into open air for the first time in months, out of the green-lit… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
When we are young we do not look into mirrors. It is when we are old, concerned with our name, our legend,… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
There was a time when mapmakers named the places they travelled through with the names of lovers rather than their own. — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
Moments before sleep are when she feels most alive, leaping across fragments of the day, bringing each moment into the bed with… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“But what did we really know, even of one another? We never thought of a future. Our small solar system - what… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots… — 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
“But his own mind was helpless against every moment's headline. He did nothing but leap into the mass of changes and explore… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“In spite of her desire for a contained universe, her life felt scattered, full of many small moments, without great purpose. That… — 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
“The jackal with one eye that looks back and one that regards the path you consider taking. In his jaws are pieces… — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“For when people leave our company in our time we are never certain of seeing them again, or seeing them unaltered.” — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.” — Michael Ondaatje Copy Share Image
“There was a time when I could have slept with his friend Briffa, for instance. Around him the air was always fraught… — 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
I kind of was shoveled onto a boat at 11 and went to England. I didn't have any parent watching over me.… — 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
For the first forty days a child is given dreams of previous lives. Journeys, winding paths, a hundred small lessons and then… — 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
