Nation
He believed in rational thinking and scientific inquiry, which was why he never won an argument with his mother, who believed in people doing what she told them, and believed it with a rock-hard certainty which dismissed all opposition. (N)
Mau was good at reading important things. He could read the sea, the weather, the tracks of animals, tattoos and the night sky. (N)
... a grandfather bird who had also decided he was dead and had pecked his foot to make sure, hopped away hurriedly. It didn't go far away, though, in case he died after all. In the grandfather bird's experience, everything died if you watched it for long enough. (N)
A sleep full of dark dreams was no sleep at all, it was like a meal of ashes. (N)
'You didn't want to be a warrior?'
'Never. It takes a woman nine months to make a new human. Why waste her effort?' (N)
'Someone had to eat the first oyster, you know. Someone looked at half a shell of snot and was brave.' (N)
'Life is a trick and you get one chance to learn it.' (N)
What were you supposed to do about girls? You had to keep away from them while you were a boy, but he'd heard that when you were a man you got other instructions. (N)
... she lived in hope, and prepared her granddaughter for a royal life by seeing to it, whenever possible, that Ermintrude was not taught anything that could possibly be of any practical use whatsoever. (N)
Daphne had heard that when you drown your whole life passes in front of your eyes.
In fact it's when you don't drown that this happens, as life races back from the start to get to the last known living moment. Mostly it's a blur, but every life has its important moments which get more and more colourful the longer they are remembered. (N)
The secret was to wear ribbons in your hair and skip everywhere. It completely fooled people. (N)
Another thing about Grandmother was her belief that a conversation consisted of someone else listening to her talking ... (N)
Sometimes you laugh because you've got no more room for crying. Sometimes you laugh because table manners on a beach are funny. And sometimes you laugh because you're alive, when you really shouldn't be. (N)
People need time to deal with the now before it runs away and becomes the then. (N)
'Why do you ask so many questions, Mau?'
'Because I want so many answers!' (N)
She thought that being foreign was a crime, or at least some sort of illness that you could catch by being out out in the sun too much, or eating olives. (N)
... no thought stayed in his head for very long, because it got lonely. (N)
'I want to know why. Why everything. I don't know the answers, but a few days ago I didn't know there were questions.' (N)
A thought could be like a spear. You do not throw a spear at the widow, the orphan, the grieving ... (N)
When a shark is coming at you, you are already dead, old Nawi had said, and since you were already dead, then anything was worth trying ... (N)
That's what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there's food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so we don't have to think, because if we think we might find answers that don't fit the way we want the world to be. (N)
'... it takes a lifetime to learn how to die.' (N)
'... I don't believe that people who have really gone mad think they have gone mad, so wondering if you have gone mad means that you haven't.' (N)
'... to save time, shall we pretend we've had the argument and I won?' (N)
'There are different ways to eat people ...' (N)
Reality so often fails when it comes to small, satisfying details …. (N)
'How can he rise up every morning and decide to be him?' (N)
Nothing happened and went on happening. (N)
'Make them think. Tell them what's got to be done, and let them work out how.' (N)
That was their law. The strongest man led. That made sense. At least, it made sense to strong men. (N)
They had learned over the years that the top was not a happy or safe place to be. One rung down, that was the place for a sensible man. You advised the king, you had a lot of power, in a quiet kind of way, and you didn't get murdered anything like as often. (N)
The man had an uncanny ability to look inside your head, and leave it feeling grubby. (N)
'If anyone is going to die, it should be me. I've died before. I know how it's done.' (N)
Belief is a hard thing to believe … (N)
... the perfect world is a journey, not a place. (N)
... when it comes to voting or fishing, sea bass usually wins. (N)
This is pure democracy. People don't just get a vote, they get a say … (N)
'People want lies to live by.' (N)
... the world was overwhelmingly full of things that were more interesting than cricket. (N)
No one should call anyone delightful without written proof. (N)
Life gets really complicated if you think too much. (N)
It's hard to talk to someone who understands ... (N)
'Religion is not an exact science. Sometimes, of course, neither is science.' (N)
Thinking
This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you. (N)
Mau was good at reading important things. He could read the sea, the weather, the tracks of animals, tattoos and the night sky. (N)
... a grandfather bird who had also decided he was dead and had pecked his foot to make sure, hopped away hurriedly. It didn't go far away, though, in case he died after all. In the grandfather bird's experience, everything died if you watched it for long enough. (N)
A sleep full of dark dreams was no sleep at all, it was like a meal of ashes. (N)
'You didn't want to be a warrior?'
'Never. It takes a woman nine months to make a new human. Why waste her effort?' (N)
'Someone had to eat the first oyster, you know. Someone looked at half a shell of snot and was brave.' (N)
'Life is a trick and you get one chance to learn it.' (N)
What were you supposed to do about girls? You had to keep away from them while you were a boy, but he'd heard that when you were a man you got other instructions. (N)
... she lived in hope, and prepared her granddaughter for a royal life by seeing to it, whenever possible, that Ermintrude was not taught anything that could possibly be of any practical use whatsoever. (N)
Daphne had heard that when you drown your whole life passes in front of your eyes.
In fact it's when you don't drown that this happens, as life races back from the start to get to the last known living moment. Mostly it's a blur, but every life has its important moments which get more and more colourful the longer they are remembered. (N)
The secret was to wear ribbons in your hair and skip everywhere. It completely fooled people. (N)
Another thing about Grandmother was her belief that a conversation consisted of someone else listening to her talking ... (N)
Sometimes you laugh because you've got no more room for crying. Sometimes you laugh because table manners on a beach are funny. And sometimes you laugh because you're alive, when you really shouldn't be. (N)
People need time to deal with the now before it runs away and becomes the then. (N)
'Why do you ask so many questions, Mau?'
'Because I want so many answers!' (N)
She thought that being foreign was a crime, or at least some sort of illness that you could catch by being out out in the sun too much, or eating olives. (N)
... no thought stayed in his head for very long, because it got lonely. (N)
'I want to know why. Why everything. I don't know the answers, but a few days ago I didn't know there were questions.' (N)
A thought could be like a spear. You do not throw a spear at the widow, the orphan, the grieving ... (N)
When a shark is coming at you, you are already dead, old Nawi had said, and since you were already dead, then anything was worth trying ... (N)
That's what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there's food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so we don't have to think, because if we think we might find answers that don't fit the way we want the world to be. (N)
'... it takes a lifetime to learn how to die.' (N)
'... I don't believe that people who have really gone mad think they have gone mad, so wondering if you have gone mad means that you haven't.' (N)
'... to save time, shall we pretend we've had the argument and I won?' (N)
'There are different ways to eat people ...' (N)
Reality so often fails when it comes to small, satisfying details …. (N)
'How can he rise up every morning and decide to be him?' (N)
Nothing happened and went on happening. (N)
'Make them think. Tell them what's got to be done, and let them work out how.' (N)
That was their law. The strongest man led. That made sense. At least, it made sense to strong men. (N)
They had learned over the years that the top was not a happy or safe place to be. One rung down, that was the place for a sensible man. You advised the king, you had a lot of power, in a quiet kind of way, and you didn't get murdered anything like as often. (N)
The man had an uncanny ability to look inside your head, and leave it feeling grubby. (N)
'If anyone is going to die, it should be me. I've died before. I know how it's done.' (N)
Belief is a hard thing to believe … (N)
... the perfect world is a journey, not a place. (N)
... when it comes to voting or fishing, sea bass usually wins. (N)
This is pure democracy. People don't just get a vote, they get a say … (N)
'People want lies to live by.' (N)
... the world was overwhelmingly full of things that were more interesting than cricket. (N)
No one should call anyone delightful without written proof. (N)
Life gets really complicated if you think too much. (N)
It's hard to talk to someone who understands ... (N)
'Religion is not an exact science. Sometimes, of course, neither is science.' (N)
Thinking
This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you. (N)
