“There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, "Business as usual." But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening. These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defense, not God's, that the self-righteous should rush.”

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About Yann Martel

Canadian author

Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for his novel Life of Pi. The book won the Man Booker Prize and became an international bestseller. Life of Pi was published in more than 50 territories and has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. It spent more than a year on the bestseller lists of The New York Times and The Globe and Mail, and was later adapted into a film directed by Ang Lee.

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Books by Yann Martel

Life of Pi

2003

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Beatrice and Virgil

2010

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The High Mountains of Portugal

2017

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The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

2004

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Darwin's Bastards

2010

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