Quotes from Khushwant Singh

There is no crime in anyone's blood any more than there is goodness in the blood of others

The Indian peasant is the world's champion shitter. Stacks of chappaties and mounds of mustard leaf-mash down the hatch twice a day; stacks of shit a.m. and p.m.

How downhearted was Meer at night! Whatever came to his lips became a cry for help. When he started on the path of love, he was like fire; Now it's ended he is a heap of ashes on a pyre.

Men have many faults, women only two: Everything they say, and everything they do.

The philosophy of religion has always been death-oriented instead of being life-oriented.

a hybrid who combines the delicate frailness of the Mimosa, crumbling at a touch when his own feelings are hurt, with the thick-skinned robustness of the elephant trampling over the feelings of others.

Ranjit Singh was extremely angry with the English but he had never let anger be his counseller.

missing anything. The northern horizon, which had turned a bluish grey, showed orange again. The orange turned into copper and then into a luminous russet. Red tongues of flame leaped into the black sky. A soft

A husband comes home from satsang and greets his wife, lifts her up and carries her around the house. His wife is surprised and asks, 'Did the Swami ji preach about being romantic today?' Her husband replies, 'No, he said we must carry our burdens and sorrows with a smile.

There are many ways of attaining godhood, say teachers of religion. Acharya Rajneesh disagrees and says there is only one way, and sexual intercourse is the first step towards it. He maintains that religion as it is practised, is false, and its propagators are agents of Satan. They have degraded love and taught us the negation of life. The philosophy of religion has always been death-oriented instead of being life-oriented.

Indians do not believe in privacy; they are a nosey people and the one thing they will not do is mind their own business.

We are a nation of fence-sitters, face-flatterers and back-biters.

What the four seasons of the year mean to the European, the one season of monsoon means to the Indian.

He whose wishes you fulfil will obey your orders But passion when obeyed will forever command.

It had always been so, until the summer of 1947. One

I do not restrain desire Until my desire is satisfied Or until my body touches hers, Or my soul from my body goes. When I am dead, open my tomb, You will see my heart on fire And my shroud in smoke.

Because sex has been condemned and suppressed, 'it has become an obsession, a disease, a perversion', says the Acharya, and advises us to 'accept sex with joy.

Dhoondta phirta hoon main, ai Iqbal, apney aap ko Aap hi goya musaafir, aap hi manzil hoon main.

In a country which had accepted caste distinctions for many centuries, inequality had become an inborn mental concept. If caste was abolished by legislation, it came up in other forms of class distinction.

in order to write good English one should be familiar with the Bible as well as European fairy tales, nursery rhymes and even nonsense verse like the limericks of Edward Lear. I read them not for fun but as the basics of literature.

A QUESTION OF SALARY Santa was filling up an application form for a job. He was not sure as to what to put in the column 'Salary Expected'. After much thought he wrote : 'Yes, please.

The flame it saw, But thereafter nothing besides the curving, leaping tongues of fire. By the time its eyes were on the flame, The moth was in the fire.

There is no wine in the world as heady as applause; and it has the same effect. It temporarily subdues anxiety and restores confidence.

I was quick to learn the tricks of the trade, the most important being: when you run into an unsolvable problem, use grease liberally; it opens all doors.