Pi Patel

"I exist; that is the truth."

"I was reduced to an animal state."

"What is the purpose of our life? To be loved by cats, surely."

"I spent my boyhood swimming, playing with animals, and dreaming of wild things."

"My official explanation of my experience remains the same as I've always said."

"Stories are the things that stick. Explanations are clear but forgettable."

"God is universal. Everyone has their own interpretation."

"I have been blessed beyond belief."

"I have nothing to say of my childhood except that it was unhappy."

"Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an bounded world."

"Religion is like imagination. It makes us who we are."

"Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt."

"I have learned things in the school of suffering that I could not have learned otherwise."

"Miracles are the laws of nature that we don't yet understand."

"Without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive to tell you my story."

"The ship sank. It just sank."

"I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent."

"It is often better not to think too much about your limbs."

"I would die of thirst before I drank seawater."

"Tragedy is only the beginning of recovery."

"An animal that kills only for food is not a killer."

"I am grateful to have survived."

"The sea is the sky's darker brother."

"You may not believe in my story, and that's perfectly fine."

"Science and religion are not at odds with each other."

"I practiced the three religions together without any sense of contradiction."

"Life demands an explanation."

"I have nothing to say of my childhood except that it was unhappy."

"Animals don't escape their nature the moment they're trapped."

"Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt."