Nothing ever fits the palm so perfectly, or feels so right, or inspires so much protective instinct as the hand of a child Gregory David Roberts More Quotes by Gregory David Roberts More Quotes From Gregory David Roberts While I was chained to a wall and being tortured, I realized, through the screaming of my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life. Gregory David Roberts wall hate men A city may be dirty on the outside but is clean on the inside. Many cities in the world are clean on the outside but dirty on the inside. Gregory David Roberts cities dirty world There's a theory that snoring at night in sleep is a subconscious defence reflex-a warning sound that frightened potential predators away from the mouth of the cave when our lower-paleolithic ancestors huddled in vulnerable sleep. That group of nomads, cameleers, sheep and goat herders, farmers, and guerilla fighters lent credibility to the idea, for they snored so thunderously and with such persistent ferocity through the long, cold night that they would've frightened a pride of ravenous lions into scattering like startled mice. Gregory David Roberts pride sleep night Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied, even those who offend us and must be punished by us. You can see, by what we have done with these two boys, that justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them. Gregory David Roberts justice boys two Slowly, desolately, the fist of what we'd done unclenched the clawed palm of what we'd become. Gregory David Roberts palms fists done Every life, every love, every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning, and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see. Gregory David Roberts action play feelings Fate gives all of us three teachers, three friends, three enemies, and three great loves in our lives. But these twelve are always disguised, and we can never know which one is which until we’ve loved them, left them, or fought them. Gregory David Roberts fate teacher giving Heroes only come in three kinds:dead, damaged or dubious. Gregory David Roberts dubious three hero Friendship is something that gets harder to understand, every damn year of my life.Friendship is like a kind of algebra test that nobody passes. In my worst moods, I think the best you can say is that a friend is anyone you don't despise. Gregory David Roberts tests years thinking There is no man, and no place, without war. The only thing we can do is choose a side, and fight. That is the only choice we get - who we fight for, who we fight against. That is life. Gregory David Roberts fighting men war You are not a man until you give your love, truly and freely to a child. And you are not a good man until you earn the love, truly and freely, of a child in return. Gregory David Roberts giving men children Happiness is a myth. It was invented to make us buy new things. Gregory David Roberts shantaram new-things myth If you make your heart into a weapon, you end up using it on yourself. Gregory David Roberts shantaram weapons heart The world is run by one million evil men, ten million stupid men, and a hundred million cowards. Gregory David Roberts stupid running men You know the difference between news and gossip, don't you? News tells you what people did. Gossip tells you how much they enjoyed it. Gregory David Roberts gossip differences people Fate always gives you two choices, the one you should take, and the one you do. Gregory David Roberts fate giving two The touch was exactly what the touch of a lover's hand should be: familiar, yet exciting as a whispered promise. I felt an almost irresistible urge to take her hand and place it flat against my chest, near my heart. Maybe I should've done it. I know now that she would've laughed, if I'd done it, and she would've liked me for it. But strangers that we were then, we stood for five long seconds and held the stare, while all the parallel worlds, all the parallel lives that might've been, and never would be, whirled around us. Gregory David Roberts heart long hands Oh, of course, naturally, God is impossible. That is the first proof that he exists." Nothing exists as we see it. Nothing we see is really there, as we think we are seeing it. Our eyes are liars. Everything that seems real, is merely part of the illusion. Gregory David Roberts eye real liars I think the future is like anything else that's important. It has to be earned. If we don't earn it, we don't have a future at all. And if we don't earn it, we don't deserve it, we have to live in the present, more or less forever. Or worse, we have to live in the past. I think that's probably what love is - a way of earning the future. Gregory David Roberts love-is past thinking The burden of happiness can only be relieved by the balm of suffering. Gregory David Roberts shantaram burden suffering
