Quotes from In the Skin of a Lion

Michael Ondaatje ·  256 pages

Rating: (13.1K votes)


“Everyone has to scratch on walls somewhere or they go crazy”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“Before the real city could be seen it had to be imagined, the way rumours and tall tales were a kind of charting.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion



“Nicholas Temelcoff is famous on the bridge, a daredevil. He is given all the difficult jobs and he takes them. He descends into the air with no fear. He is a solitary. He assembles ropes, brushes the tackle and pulley at his waist, and falls off the bridge like a diver over the edge of a boat.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“The rain comes through their thin cotton clothes against their muscles. Alice sweeps back her wet hair. A sudden flinging of sheet lighting and Clara sees Alice subliminal in movement almost rising up into the air, shirt removed, so her body can meet the rain, the rest of her ascent lost to darkness till the next brief flutter of light when they hold a birch tree in their clasped hands, lean back and swing within the rain.
They crawl delirious together in the blackness. There is no moon. There is the moon flower in its small power of accuracy, like a compass, pointing to where the moon is, so they can bay towards its absence.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“There was a time when I could have slept with his friend Briffa, for instance. Around him the air was always fraught with possibilities.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“Commissioner Harris at the far end stared along the mad pathway. This was his first child and it had already become a murderer.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


“He can think now only of objects. Something alive, just one small grey bird on a branch, will break his heart.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion



“Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”
― Michael Ondaatje, quote from In the Skin of a Lion


About the author

Michael Ondaatje
Born place: in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Born date September 12, 1943
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Things we had, like respect and trust, but also freely expressed desires and accountability to whatever degree it took to make both people happy. It took work, a willingness to fight passionately and fairly--out of bed, not just in it--commitment and honesty. It took waking up and saying each day, "I hold this man sacred and always will. He's my sun, moon, and stars."
It took letting the other person in; a thing I'd stopped doing. It took being unafraid to ask for what you wanted, to put yourself on the line, to risk it all for love.”
― Karen Marie Moning, quote from Feversong


“We all reach a point as young adults when we wonder what we should be doing with our lives—or, at the very least, which direction to point ourselves in. Beyond the means to get by, we need to think about what’s most important to us. Not surprisingly, I discovered that for me the answer was family.”
― quote from A Long Way Home


“That thing that everyone talks about. That really big newspaper in the sky that came along and ruined everything else, blah blah blah.'
Rosie was stumped, until light finally dawned. 'You mean the internet?'
'Well, yes. I hate that thing.'
'The whole thing?'
'Yes.'
'You hate the entire internet?'
'Yes.”
― Jenny Colgan, quote from Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams


“Because I have to admit: there's something really badass about truly, honestly not caring what people think about you.”
― Becky Albertalli, quote from The Upside of Unrequited


“Something inside me had dropped away, and nothing came in to fill the cavern.”
― Haruki Murakami, quote from Norvegų giria


Interesting books

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
(75.8K)
Moneyball: The Art o...
by Michael Lewis
Pride
(17K)
Pride
by Rachel Vincent
Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold
(31.1K)
Magic Kingdom For Sa...
by Terry Brooks
The Last Don
(13.4K)
The Last Don
by Mario Puzo
Gregor and the Code of Claw
(36.9K)
Gregor and the Code...
by Suzanne Collins
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
(42.1K)
The Return of Sherlo...
by Arthur Conan Doyle

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.