“The library was my only blessing. Every time I climbed the stairs, my heart lifted. All day, I looked forward to the happy hours I spent in that beautiful room. My guilt over appa's fate was too heavy to carry up there, and I learned to leave it below, somewhere on the ground floor. I left the house far behind as I walked on the path paved by the books, and every evening, baby Mangalam slept soundly on the bed I made for her on the window seat.”
― Padma Venkatraman, quote from Climbing the Stairs
“Everytime I climbed the stairs, my heart lifted.”
― Padma Venkatraman, quote from Climbing the Stairs
“In my mind's eye, my chess pieces had grown into lines of dark-skinned men marching forward, being beaten by a white army and crumpling one by one into my father's waiting arms, bloodstains blossoming across their shoulders. (32)”
― Padma Venkatraman, quote from Climbing the Stairs
“If a dog barks at the sun, it does not dim the sun's brightness. (44)”
― Padma Venkatraman, quote from Climbing the Stairs
“The joyous clamor in my mind drowned out the strange sound outside the car: a humming noise that was gathering speed and growing louder, a roar that was not the waves curling up the beach.”
― Padma Venkatraman, quote from Climbing the Stairs
Padma Venkatraman
Born place: Chennai, India
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“The ideal of quiet and of genteel retirement, in 1835, was found in Washington Square, where the Doctor built himself a handsome, modern, wide-fronted house, with a big balcony before the drawing-room windows, and a flight of marble steps ascending to a portal which was also faced with white marble. This structure, and many of its neighbours, which it exactly resembled, were supposed, forty years ago, to embody the last results of architectural science, and they remain to this day very solid and honourable dwellings. In front of them was the Square, containing a considerable quantity of inexpensive vegetation, enclosed by a wooden paling, which increased its rural and accessible appearance; and round the corner was the more august precinct of the Fifth Avenue, taking its origin at this point with a spacious and confident air which already marked it for high destinies. I know not whether it is owing to the tenderness of early associations, but this portion of New York appears to many persons the most delectable. It has a kind of established repose which is not of frequent occurrence in other quarters of the long, shrill city; it has a riper, richer, more honourable look than any of the upper ramifications of the great longitudinal thoroughfare—the look of having had something of a social history.”
― Henry James, quote from Washington Square
“This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes. He possessed an acute understanding of the sources of power inherent in the presidency, an unparalleled ability to keep his governing coalition intact, a tough-minded appreciation of the need to protect his presidential prerogatives, and a masterful sense of timing.”
― Doris Kearns Goodwin, quote from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
“Sometimes it just happens - to the wrong people at the wrong time.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from Whitney, My Love
“Djed je rekao da je puno bolje pokazati čovjeku kako si sam može pomoći, nego dati mu nešto. Jer ako naučiš čovjeka kako da si sam pomogne, onda će se on dalje sam brinuti za sebe i biti neovisan; ali ako mu samo nešto daš i ničemu ga ne naučiš, onda mu moraš do kraja života i dalje davati. Time tom čovjeku činiš medvjeđu uslugu, jer ako postane ovisan o tebi, ukrao si mu karakter.
Po djedovim riječima, neki ljudi vole stalno poklanjati siromašnima jer tada mogu dignuti nos i vjerovati kako su oni nešto bolje nego onaj kojem pomažu; umjesto da nauče siromaha nečemu što bi ga učinilo neovisnim.
„A pošto je ljudska priroda takva kakva jest“, rekao je djed, „uvijek će biti onih koji koriste spoznaju da neki vole dizati nos na taj način. Postanu tako jadni da su voljni biti pas svakom gospodaru koji ih je voljan uzdržavati. Tako se nisko spuste da radije budu pseto gospodina Nadmoćnog, nego svoj čovjek. I onda stalno kukaju i žale se kako im je teško i što im sve fali. A pritom im fali jedna jedina stvar - dobra lekcija i to udarcem noge u guzicu.“
I neki narodi, govorio je djed, dižu nos jer misle da su bolji od drugih, pa drugima daju pomoć, tako da bi sebe mogli nazivati silama. A da imaju srce na pravom mjestu, naučili bi narode kojima „pomažu“ kako će se brinuti sami za sebe. Djed je rekao da bogati narodi to ne žele učiniti jer onda siromašni narodi ne bi više bili ovisni o njima, a to im je zapravo bio cilj.”
― Forrest Carter, quote from The Education of Little Tree
“It's daft, locking us up," said Nanny. "I'd have had us killed."
"That's because you're basically good," said Magrat. "The good are innocent and create justice. The bad are guilty, which is why they invent mercy.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Witches Abroad
Remy
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Queen of the Darknes...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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