Quotes from Chetan Bhagat

Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being created in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means that innocent lives

Applying the 80:20 rule, I would say that 80 per cent of our youth don't even care about politics or government. What they care about are their lives—their jobs, their boyfriends or girlfriends and, well, that's about it.

There are call centres, credit card sales. Be open-minded and things work out.' 'Finish engineering and join a call centre?' 'Dude, don't be so shocked. We, like millions of other students, are the losers in the Great Indian Education Race. Be happy with whatever you get.

High-class people have this concept called space, which means you cannot ask them questions or give them opinions about certain aspects of their life.

Developed countries depend very little on rain, as this dependence creates high fluctuations in the output, year after year. Apart

You treated her so badly,' Saurabh said.

It's amazing how quickly the mind switches from figuring out a situation to commenting on it.

Sometimes the only way to get rid of an unpleasant feeling is to replace it with another unpleasant feeling.

Of course, in Delhi nobody gives a damn about such small fights. Until blood is spilled, people remain cool and sip their lattes.

Live with dignity. Live for others, that is how one earns respect

Collective responsibility, a sense of the greater good versus just one's own good, and a strong set of collective values are imperative for improving society. These are the aims of all these pieces about our society.

Everyone still tries to cut a deal for themselves while the nation goes to hell. Anyway

Oh, nice. What do you…' 'I am from

Almost an addiction. Like smoking, when you know it is bad for you but you can't seem to leave it.

Just as people gather on the road to see a fistfight, India gathers at night to watch TV debates.

Did I love her? Did the earth go around the sun? Did night follow day?

This is not a story. There is no romance in here, nor are there page-turning, thrilling moments. Rather, this book is about a dream both you and I share—to make India a better place.

However, Americans have created a system in which wealth is created with hard work, innovation, talent and enterprise. People who display these qualities move up in life.

everyone has a right to prosper and succeed through hard work, innovation and excellence. We

To give it all up and write, hoping to effect change in a country like India, sounded mad from the start. However, I knew that without a streak of madness I would never do this. The

While airports are particularly good places to hunt for Indian stupidity, many other Indian processes are retarded too.

Of course, critics asked what a novelist was doing on the serious editorial page. After all, I was no intellectual with grey hair. I couldn't answer them. They were probably right at some level. However, this was destiny. This was meant to happen.

80 per cent of people who care about politics and national issues fall in the 'taking sides' category.

Fighting corruption is not restricted to naming and shaming a few corrupt officials. If we think it is okay to cheat in exams, lie to a ticket collector in the train about our kids' ages and pay a bit of money to avoid a big traffic fine, then at some level we clearly don't care about eliminating corruption all that much. At best, we hate the politician who gets to steal (while we don't!).