Amidst one's daily clutter, one doesn't usually reflect on the splendour of being free because - naturally - one has to get on with the business of living.

Anyone who has grown up in Delhi knows it's horrible.

The more languages you know, the less likely you are to become a terrorist.

We are men without ambition, and all we want is to be left alone, in peace so that we can try and be happy. So few people will understand this simplicity.

I need to have some depth in my characters. That's why they are all Bengalis. I can't imagine writing a book with someone called Saxena as the hero.

Well, life is dark, isn't it? Mostly, it's dreadful. At the same time, death is funny too. I mean, look at the fuss we make of it.

So much better to write pen on paper; you can do it anywhere, say, while stuck at the airport.

People should have literary and cultural taste and should not bomb hotels.

It's a huge headache - the more money you have, the more hassles. I find money very uncomfortable.

I feel completely at home in the absurdities of India.

I don't think I would do better books if I wrote full time. I write for amateurish reasons.

Being afraid does not define your character, but what you do in the face of fear does.

I'm calling the police, " she said, showing him the phone in her hand.He smiled, and for a moment she forgot about the phone. "You don't need the police."No, of course she didn't How silly.

We've become a nation of con men, living by selling double glazing to each other.

Except when you're marching to war, it's not a very optimistic thought, is it? In other words, it's the opposite of optimistic when you're thinking you're going to war.

When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall?

For me, I think being a conservative means you are focused on all four key principles: strong defense, lower taxes, less spending, and defending traditional American values.

It is always a sign of an unproductive time when it concerns itself with petty and technical aspects [in philology], and likewiseit is a sign of an unproductive person to pursue such trifles.

A typewriter is a means of transcribing thought, not expressing it.

Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety-valve device for dealing with happiness overflow.

My father was a slave and my people died to build this country and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you.