Pi Patel

"Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life."

"Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust."

"The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity—it's envy."

"I couldn't help but smile. That's the thing about love. It's not enough to want it away."

"You can't fake the kind of trust a man needs to survive with a tiger."

"Religion is like that: it exists as set of practices, a set of values and a great book."

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no?"

"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

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

"Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an urgent, unforgiving present."

"I am grateful for all the hardships in my life."

"The only real difference between man and animal is that man claims a distinction."

"It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go."

"Survival is a matter of taking things one day at a time."

"I am still a person of faith. That has never changed."

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

"Animals in the wild live subject to hunger, thirst, and injury, the ravages of disease and the inevitability of death by predation."

"Atheism is just as blind as fundamentalism and offers no truths."

"The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity—it's envy."

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

"I am still hot, still troubled, but I am here."

"If you stumble about believability, what are you living for?"

"It was my great fortune to be a zookeeper's son."

"Religion is about turning untested belief into deep conviction."

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is the way you understand it."

"I named the tiger Richard Parker, after the hunter from my childhood."

"Practical atheism, which is the basis of every modern society."

"I was never lonely except in the beginning."

"The sea is life's greatest teacher of survival."