Memoirs are the backstairs of history.

The season of love is the carnival of egoism and it brings a touchstone to our natures.

Earth knows no desolation. She smells regeneration in the moist breath of decay.

A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.

There is nothing the body suffers which the soul may not profit by.

Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered.

Caricature is rough truth.

Lowly, with a broken neck, The crocus lays her cheek to mire.

Lovely are the curves of the white owl sweeping Wavy in the dusk lit by one large star. Lone on the fir-branch, his rattle-note unvaried, Brooding o'er the gloom, spins the brown eve-jar.

We are betrayed by what is false within

Perfect simplicity is unconsciously audacious.

A history of literature, unlike history as such, ought to list only victories, for its defeats are no victory for anyone.

I used to give too much importance to reason until I discovered the world was shaped not by reason but by emotion

We can give up belief in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage.

In the end, leadership comes down to consistency and strong, confident action upon which the team can rely - and this doesn't mean imposing a bunch of rules.

A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.

One of the regime's most important tactics is the creation of a third force in the country.

Jude remembered this pain. Every woman had felt some version of it: the end of first love. It was when you learned, for good and always, that love could be impermanent.

Ask advice of him who governs himself well.

Education should not be fun. You are being brought up into society and society has a way of doing things. It may not be pleasant but sooner or later you are going to have to do it anyway.

India has been born and reborn scores of times, and it will be reborn again. India is forever, and India is forever being made.