Shantaram - quotes 1
Posted by Anantha | Posted in Books , Gregory Roberts , Quotes , Shantaram | Posted on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
I finished reading Shantaram! This mammoth autobiographical fiction is penned by an Australian born writer cum armed robber cum heroin addict cum prisoner cum Jihadi soldier cum slum dweller cum doctor in slum cum Mumbai mafia member cum charity organizer cum screenplay writer, Gregory David Roberts!! Yes, you read it right; all these roles/professions (?) are of a single person in the very same incarnation. Shantaram is a rechristened name for Lin (which again is his name in fake passport) or Linbaba, as fondly called by most of the people in slum of Mumbai. This novel was written over a period of 13 years!, literally in blood and sweat as Gregory Roberts himself says. Twice the manuscript was destroyed by the police when he was being tortured in jail.
After escaping from high security Australian prison in broad day light, Lin travels to few countries holding fake passports and lands in Mumbai. From there begins this inspiring and vivid tale of Shanataram. This book brims with one liners and quotes. I am sharing a few with you guys... Hope this inspires you to take up this must-read-book.
The simple and the astonishing truth about India and Indian people is that when you go there, and deal with them, your heart always guides you more wisely than your head. There's nowhere in the world where that's quite so true. - pg 35
The only force more ruthless and cynical than the business of big politics is the politics of big business - pg 52
The truth is a bully we all pretend to like - pg 62
It is the mark of the age in which we live that the style becomes the attitude, instead of the attitude becoming the style - pg 91
The real trick in life is to want nothing and to succeed in getting it. pg 96
Sometimes you have to surrender..., to win! - pg 115
It's a fact of life-on-the-run that you often love more people than you trust - pg 156
We can compel men not to be bad, but we can not compel them to be good - pg 184
The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance is, that it works so well! - pg 186
There is no believing in God, we either know God, or we do not - pg 194
Suffering is the way we test our love, especially our love for God - pg 214
I think it is a part of growing up, learning to control our suffering. I think, when we grow up and learn happiness is rare and passes quickly, we become disillusioned and hurt. And how much we suffer is a mark of how much we have been hurt by this realization - pg 294
Like most things and most people, slum is not as bad as it seems - pg 329
I dont know what frightens me more, the power that crushes us, or our endless ability to endure it. - pg 336
You are not a man until you give your love, truly and freely, to a child. And you are not a good man until you earn the love, truly and freely, of a child in return - pg 353
The contours of all our virtues are shaped by adversity - pg 379
One of the ironies of courage, and the reasons why we prize it so highly is that we find it easier to be brave for some one else than for ourselves alone - pg 381
Hmm... Nice quotes! Looks like u're inspired me to pick this book up soon.. :)
Yes, I strongly recommend this book to all the book lovers who love life and human spirit!
But it's quite a fat book of 939 pages, so spare a month or two to read this. I bet once you pick this up, you will feel restless until you turn the last page.
I finished this precisely in 60 days - now that's quite an achievement for me with my reading habits and my routine, add to that a good amount of time I spent on making notes while reading the book..
Nice post...
Read it once...thinking of reading it again...Thanks