The only power that has any real meaning is the power to better the world. Gregory David Roberts More Quotes by Gregory David Roberts More Quotes From Gregory David Roberts The burden of happiness can only be relieved by the balm of suffering. Gregory David Roberts shantaram burden suffering Nothing in the world is so soft and pleasing to the touch, as the skin of a woman's thigh. No flower, feather or fabric, can match that velvet whisper of flesh. No matter how unequal they may be in any other ways, all women, old and young, fat and thin, beautiful and ugly, have that perfection. It's a great part of the reason why men hunger to possess women, and so often convince themselves that they do possess them: the thigh, that touch. Gregory David Roberts flower beautiful men The more you try to be like someone else, the more you find yourself standing in the way. Gregory David Roberts finding-yourself trying way A man trusts another man when he sees enough of himself in him. Gregory David Roberts shantaram enough men Praising people behind their back is monstrously unfair, because the one thing you can't defend yourself against is the good that people say about you. Gregory David Roberts shantaram praise people One, what would happen if everyone did this thing? Two, would this help or hinder the movement toward universal ultimate complexity? Gregory David Roberts movement helping two Every virtuous act has some Dark secret in its heart; every risk we take contains a mystery that can’t be solved. Gregory David Roberts risk dark heart That's how they manage to live together, a billion of them, in reasonable peace. They are not perfect, of course. They know how to fight and lie and cheat each other, and all the things that all of us do. But more than any other people in the world, the Indians know how to love one another. Gregory David Roberts fighting lying people The most precious gift you can bring to your lover is your suffering. Gregory David Roberts shantaram lovers suffering If we can't respect the way we earn it, money has no value. If we can't use it to make life better for our families and loved ones, money has no purpose. Gregory David Roberts purpose use way Its a fact of being in love that we often pay no attention whatsoever to the substance of what a lover says, while being intoxicated to ecstasy by the way it's said. I was in love with her eyes, but I didn't read them. I loved her voice, but I didn't really hear the fear & the anguish in it. Gregory David Roberts being-in-love voice eye The simple and astonishing truth about India and Indian people is that when you go there, and deal with them, your heart always guides you more wisely than your head. There's nowhere else in the world where that's quite so true. Gregory David Roberts simple heart people The only force more ruthless and cynical than the business of big politics is the politics of big business. Gregory David Roberts shantaram cynical bigs I know now that when the loving, honest moment comes it should be seized, and spoken, because it may never come again. And unvoiced, unmoving, unlived in the things we declare form heart to heart, those true and real feelings wither and crumble in the remembering hand that tries too late to reach for them. Gregory David Roberts real heart hands The truth is a bully we all pretend to like Gregory David Roberts shantaram truth-is bully Silence is the tortured man's revenge. Gregory David Roberts silence revenge men None of us lie or guard our secrets when we sing, and India is a nation of singers whose first love is the kind of song we turn to when crying just isn't enough. Gregory David Roberts first-love song lying A politician is someone who promises a bridge even when there's no water Gregory David Roberts bridges water promise Never let anyone know what you're thinking - always know what the other thinks of you. Gregory David Roberts think-of-you knows thinking hate has no literature: real fear and real hate have no words Gregory David Roberts hate real literature