Life of Pi – Quotes
Click here to read SPM’s movie review and discussion points from Life of Pi!
Pi: “What has mamaji told you?”
Writer: “That you have a story that would make me believe in God.”
Writer: “I didn’t know Hindu’s say ‘Amen’.”
Pi: “Catholic Hindu’s do. That means we get to feel guilty before hundreds of gods.”
Pi: “The gods were my superheroes growing up.”
An adult: “Don’t let the beauty and lights fool you boys; religion is darkness.”
Pi: “My pa believed himself a new [Western] Indian. He got sick and God didn’t save him. Western medicine did.”
Pi: “With one word, my name went from an elegant French swimming pool to a stinking Indian latrine – I was pissing everywhere.”
Pi: “I met Christ in the mountains when I was 12.”
Pi about Christianity: “Why would a god do that? Why would he send his only son to atone for the sins of the whole world?”
Priest: “Because He loves us. He made himself approachable. We can’t understand God with all His perfection, but we can understand His Son.”
Pi (in present day commenting on his talk with the Priest): “That made no sense. … But I could not get this Christ out of my mind. The more I got to know Christ, the more I liked Him.”
Young Pi: “Thank you Vishnu for introducing me to Christ.”
Pi: “I came to faith through Hinduism and I found Christ. … But God wasn’t finished with me yet. He introduced himself to me again, this time through the name of Allah.”
Pi’s father: “You only need to convert to three more religions and your whole year will be a holiday.”
Pi’s father: “Believing in everything at once is the same as believing in nothing at all.”
Pi’s father: “How can he find his way if he never chooses a path.”
Pi: “Faith is a house with many rooms.”
Writer: “But no room for doubt?”
Pi: “Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful; it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.”
Pi’s father: “So it is settled. We will sail like Columbus.”
Pi: “But Columbus was looking for India!”
Pi to the orangutan: “Welcome to Pi’s ark.”
Pi: “I can eat the biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If I don’t, I’m afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy.”
Pi: “Thank you Lord Vishnu. Thank you for coming in the form of a fish and saving our lives.”
Pi: “God, I give myself to you. I am your vessel. Whatever comes, I want to know. Show me.”
Pi: “Of course, I brought the biscuits and the water with me [on the raft] to keep them safe. Idiot.”
Pi to god: “I surrender. What more do you want?”
Pi: “God, thank you for giving me my life. I’m ready now.”
Pi: “Even when god seemed to have abandoned me, when he seemed to be indifferent to my suffering, he was watching me. And when I was so close to dying, he gave me rest.”
Pi: “Then Richard Parker, the terrible one, my fierce companion, left me. Never to be seen again. Richard Parker—he left me so unceremoniously. It broke my heart. The whole of life is an act of letting go. But what hurts most is not taking a moment to say goodbye. … I never got to tell my father thank you. … I know Richard Parker was a tiger, but I wish I could have said, ‘It’s over. We survived. Thank you for saving my life. May god be with you. I love you Richard Parker.’”
Pi: “It happened; it happened. Why does it have to mean anything?”
Pi about the cook: “He was such an evil man, but worse still, he brought the evil out in me. I have to live with that.”
Pi: “In both stories, the ship sinks, family dies and I survive. So which story do you prefer?”
Writer: “The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.”
Pi: “Thank you. And so it goes with God.”
Writer: “It’s an amazing story.”
Writer: “So your story does have a happy ending?”
Pi: “Well, that’s up to you now. The story is yours.”