Quotes from Chetan Bhagat

I can't let someone I just met get the better of me, I thought, shaking my head. I switched off the lights and lay down. I had to catch an early-morning flight to Mumbai the next day and had a four-hour window of sleep. I couldn't wait to reach home. However

complex vortex of tests, classes, selections and preparations is something every insignificant Indian student like me has to go through to have a shot at a decent life. Else, I could always take the job of Birju the watchman or, if I wanted it simpler, hang myself

Because like you, this girl is a person who needs a lot of love.' 'Love? I need a lot of love?' 'Of course, you do. And everyone else does too. Funny we never say it. It is okay to scream in public if you are hungry "I'm starving". It is okay to make a fuss if you are tired "I'm so sleepy". But somehow we cannot say "I just need some more love". Why can't we say it, Shyam? It is as basic a need.

I guess that is why most people drink anyway. To shut up their inner critic. So they can do whatever the hell they want.

Today, the world is looking at India to get its act together. We, on the other hand, are busy finding differences and reasons to hate each other.

Listen, I don't have the time or patience for this

I picked up a brochure in disgust. I took a blade from my shaving kit, cut out the cover pictures of the IIT-selected students, and ripped them to shreds.

Government employees are the lowest risk-takers on earth.

why don't they call white-skinned people rice-ish?).

Government employees have a servile switch in their brains. It makes them grovel in the presence of netas.

The upper-caste, upper-class Hindus have to let go of their bigotry and prejudice. The oppressed have to let go of their justified but expensive urge for revenge and retribution. All over the world, the oppressed have only risen through self-empowerment—look at the Jews and the Parsis.

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 that could be saved are not.

The selection rate is less than three per cent. Most of us can't crack these tests, basic probability. But who will drill it into our parents' heads?

The villagers waited silently. There is something about people with no hope for a better future in life. You can identify them from their expression. Most of all, it is in their eyes, which

it's better for people to shut up rather than say something nasty.

It was obvious—let alone the morality of it; without reducing corruption, we could never hope to become a rich country. Yes, we need new laws like the Lokpal. Yes

The third trait is divisiveness. This is often taught at our home, particularly our family and relatives, where we learn about the differences amongst people. Our

When the heart breaks, the part of the brain that stores data on past dates works perfectly.

They say that the test of a person's character is how he or she treats those less powerful than him or her.

We think cheating, in reasonable amounts, is okay. These

Our society respects power, not excellence or integrity. Power-driven systems resemble the jungle. The

spit and gutkha being emptied

A story that fate left incomplete

If we place an honest, though less wealthy person on a higher pedestal than a corrupt, yet rich individual, we will have contributed to India's progress. And