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Michael Ondaatje Quotes

Michael Ondaatje Quotes & Quotations
Name:
Michael Ondaatje
Type:
Author
Nationality:
Canadian
Birth day:
Birth year:

  • 1
    A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 2
    I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 3
    I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 4
    I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 5
    In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 6
    It doubles your perception, to write from the point of view of someone you're not. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 7
    It's a responsibility of the writer to get the reader out of the story somehow. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 8
    It's an odd state to be in, blowing the whistle on your home country. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 9
    It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 10
    Once I've discovered the story, I might restructure it, maybe move things around, set up a clue that something is going to happen later, but that happens much later in an editorial capacity. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 11
    Research can be a big clunker. It's difficult to know how you can make the historical light. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 12
    Right now, I have no idea what I will write or if I will write again. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 13
    The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 14
    The last three books are much more a case of a moment of history, what happened almost by accident or coincidence, like being in the same elevator or lifeboat. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 15
    The past is still, for us, a place that is not safely settled. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 16
    To write about someone like myself would be very limiting. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 17
    Truth, at the wrong time, can be dangerous. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 18
    When you're writing, it's as if you're within a kind of closed world. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 19
    You don't want to write your own opinion, you don't want to just represent yourself, but represent yourself through someone else. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje
  • 20
    You want to suggest something new, but at the same time, resolve the drama of the action in the novel. Michael-OndaatjeMichael Ondaatje