Quotes from What Young India Wants

Chetan Bhagat ·  181 pages

Rating: (7.9K votes)


“When we choose a mobile network, do we check whether Airtel or Vodafone belong to a particular caste? No, we simply choose the provider based on the best value or service. Then why do we vote for somebody simply because he belongs to the same caste as us?”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“We know we are all tarnished, so we doubt everyone else too. It is sad situation, where we need a leader but cannot really trust anyone.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“I feel everyone who has a chance should step out of India for a while to really see what it is like out there.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Societies that value excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship and integrity do well.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Shocked, the teacher rushed out and brought back the headmistress. Throughout the rest of the period, both of them tried to figure out who set off the bomb and gave us lectures on our rowdy behaviour.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants



“done it. However, just prior to the teacher's arrival, someone had a brainwave. He planted a Diwali bomb with a”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Lakshmi is wealth accumulated through honest and fair means. Money can be stolen as well, but Lakshmi brings peace and happiness to the person who earns it.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“None of the recent technologies that have changed the world and created wealth—telecom, computers, aviation—have come out of India. Yet,”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“The first trait is servility. At school, our education system hammers out our individual voices and kills our natural creativity, turning us into servile, course-material slaves. Our”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms—disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon, they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die. I”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants



“The second trait is our numbness to injustice. It comes from our environment. We are exposed to corruption from our childhood. Almost”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being created in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means that innocent lives that could be saved are not.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“It was obvious—let alone the morality of it; without reducing corruption, we could never hope to become a rich country. Yes, we need new laws like the Lokpal. Yes,”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“The third trait is divisiveness. This is often taught at our home, particularly our family and relatives, where we learn about the differences amongst people. Our”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“We think cheating, in reasonable amounts, is okay. These”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants



“Our society respects power, not excellence or integrity. Power-driven systems resemble the jungle. The”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“If we place an honest, though less wealthy person on a higher pedestal than a corrupt, yet rich individual, we will have contributed to India’s progress. And”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Societies that value excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship and integrity do well. If we want India to be rich, we have to value excellence and honesty first. This is where a reset, a re-prioritization of something very core to society is required. This core is our values.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Yes, honesty pays but only if all of society is honest. If only you are honest, but everyone else is not, you will suffer. This is the bottleneck obstructing change in India today. We all want to be honest, but we don’t want to be the only one honest, for then we will suffer. This paradox prevents change.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“I observed all the students at IIT. They came from all parts of India, toppers in their respective schools. Few had come there to research science or learn about technology. Most had come to achieve their middle-class dream—a better life. And that is what the IITs promised them.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants



“If we are lucky enough to have good leaders at the top, change will happen quickly. Unfortunately,”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Frustration is a sign that somewhere you took things too seriously. Unfairness”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others. There”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“However, ask someone to articulate Indian community values and there won’t be a clear answer. Do”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Values cannot be unpredictable; they are consistent, even in volatile times. Indian”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants



“The Indian government wants foreign investment but ignore the basic expectations that come with it. Hence”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Our enemy is the old school of thought, or rather, the people who defend the old school of thought. They do this in the name of antique Indian policies, culture and values.”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being created in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means that innocent lives”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


“Developed countries depend very little on rain, as this dependence creates high fluctuations in the output, year after year. Apart”
― Chetan Bhagat, quote from What Young India Wants


About the author

Chetan Bhagat
Born place: in New Delhi, India
Born date April 22, 1974
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“All those cities, all those fields and farms, with nobody, and nothing left alive. Just nothing there. I simply can't take it in.”
― Nevil Shute, quote from On the Beach


“Wow Kelsey!" Kishan whistled. "I'm going to have to beat the other guys of with a stick!”
― Colleen Houck, quote from Tiger's Curse


“Memory is the seamstress, and a capricious one at that. Memory runs her needle in and out, up and down, hither and thither. We know not what comes next, or what follows after. Thus, the most ordinary movement in the world, such as sitting down at a table and pulling the inkstand towards one, may agitate a thousand odd, disconnected fragments, now bright, now dim, hanging and bobbing and dipping and flaunting, like the underlinen of a family of fourteen on a line in a gale of wind.”
― Virginia Woolf, quote from Orlando


Sonnet 23

As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharg'd with burden of mine own love's might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast;
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Shakespeare's Sonnets


“Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation.”
― Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, quote from The Bhagavad Gita


Interesting books

The Untouchables
(7.2K)
The Untouchables
by J.J. McAvoy
Love's Suicide
(3.3K)
Love's Suicide
by Jennifer Foor
Saga, Vol. 3
(56.7K)
Saga, Vol. 3
by Brian K. Vaughan
Cinder & Ella
(13.1K)
Cinder & Ella
by Kelly Oram
The End of the World
(4.5K)
The End of the World
by Derek Landy
Reawakened
(6.8K)
Reawakened
by Colleen Houck

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.