Quotes from Ruskin Bond

the hunting of animals was distasteful to me. Live and let live was always my creed.

When God, the Great Mathematician, discovered that in making man he had overdone things a bit, he created the bedbug to even things out.

Animals have simple needs, and all they want is to be left alone. We are the interlopers.

the West they say, 'Never talk to strangers.' In the East they say, 'Always talk to strangers.' It was this stranger who gave us sustenance on the road, just as strangers had given me company on the way to the Pindar Glacier. On the open road there are no strangers. You share the same sky, the same mountain, the same sunshine and shade. On the open road we are all brothers.

lt isn't time that's passing by; it is you and I..

the best ones are often the most difficult to find. But

What could I do about finding a girl I had seen only twice, who had hardly spoken to me, and about whom I knew nothing—absolutely nothing—but for whom I felt a tenderness and responsibility that I had never felt before?

She saw that I was looking at her intently, but at first she pretended not to notice. She had pale skin, set off by shiny black hair and dark, troubled eyes. And then those eyes, searching and eloquent, met mine.

It isn't time that's passing by. it is you and I.

A woman can hide her frigidity but a man's impotence is obvious

what we do, good or bad, is returned in full measure in this life rather than in the hereafter.

Life has its ups and downs and periods of darkness, but now and then it springs a surprise, such as an encounter with an old friend, and makes us want to go on a little longer.

money can't buy good health or a serene state of mind—especially the latter. You can fly to the ends of the earth in search of the best climate or the best medical treatment and the chances are that you will have to keep flying!

The sea has had Conrad and Stevenson and Masefield, but the mountains continue to defy the written word. We have climbed their highest peaks and crossed their most difficult passes, but still they keep their secrets and their reserve; they remain remote, mysterious, spirit-haunted.

when I was a boy, reading was my true religion. It helped me discover my soul.

could they get to the river in time?

Mozambique and Timbuctoo. We took long walks together, explored old ruins, chased butterflies and waved to passing

Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to see, Bread I dip in the river— There's the life for a man like me, There's the life for ever.   The

dig. He pressed the seed into the soil with his thumb

It is better to be a human without any gifts than a Jinn or a genius with one too many.

To try to borrow money from Henri was like appealing to the desert for a cooling draught.

Looking for a place to rest, he spotted an old churchyard and decided to stretch himself out on the steps. Pitamber planted himself down on a large stone slab and then, discovering it was a gravestone, got up in a hurry and joined Rusty on the steps. 'Is it unlucky to sit on a grave?' he asked, for he was of a superstitious nature. 'I don't think so,' said Rusty. 'The dead could probably do with a little company.

Hitler's signature is ugly, as you would expect.

Some men leave a trail of legend behind them because they give their spirit to the place where they have lived, and remain forever a part of the rocks and mountain streams.