Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table

"What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power."

Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table

"I am someone who has a cold heart. If I am beside a great grief I throw barriers up so the loss cannot go too deep or too far. There is a wall instantly in place, and it will not fall."

Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table

"...how many of us have a moved heart that shies away to a different angle, a millimetre or even less from the place where it first existed, some repositioning unknown to us."

Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table