373 Quotes by Michael Ondaatje

Aliganaya - 'the embraceduring an intoxicated walk'or 'sudden arousalwhile driving over speed bumps

To rest was to receive all aspects of the world without judgment. A bath in the sea, a fuck with a soldier who never knew your name. Tenderness toward the unknown and anonymous, which was tenderness to the self.

the heart is an organ of fire

You think that you are an iconoclast, but you’re not. You just move, or replace what you cannot have. If you fail at something, you retreat into something else. Nothing changes you.... I left you because I knew I could never change you. You would stand in the room so still sometimes, as if the greatest betrayal of yourself would be to reveal one more inch of your character.

Аз вярвам, че срещнеш ли този, в когото ще се влюбиш, една част от духа ти започва да пише историята на любовта, като педантично подрежда спомени от миналото или случки, когато другият е минал покрай теб неподозиращ, точно както Клифтън, който сигурно някога ти е подал ръка, за да слезеш от колата, сляп за съдбата си. Всяка частица от тялото трябва да бъде готова за другия, всички атоми да се втурнат в една посока, за да се роди желание.

Ich bin ein Mensch mit kaltem Herzen. Wenn ich mit einem großen Kummer zu tun habe, errichte ich Barrieren, damit das Gefühl des Verlusts nicht zu tief, nicht zu weit eindringen kann. Sofort gibt es eine Mauer, die uneinnehmbar ist. (S. 161)

Menschen im Alter zwischen zwanzig und dreißig Jahren sind damit beschäftigt, ein anderer zu werden.

People are not who or where we think they are. And there is someone who watches from an unknown location

How we are almost nothing. We think, in our youth, we are the centre of the universe, but we simply respond, go this way or that by accident, survive or improve by the luck of the draw, with little choice or determination on our part.