Michael Ondaatje Quotes & Sayings

26 most famous Michael Ondaatje quotes and sayings. These are the first 10 quotes we have for him. He's an 81 year old Sri Lankan author born on Sep 12, 1943.

“Truth, at the wrong time, can be dangerous.”

“It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.”

“I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries.”

“As a writer, one is busy with archaeology.”

“I don't see novels ending with any real sense of closure.”

“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.”

“I see the poem or the novel ending with an open door.”

“I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out.”

“A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.”

“That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.”