Ruskin Bond > Quotes

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

“To be able to laugh and to be merciful are the only things that make man better than the beast”
― Ruskin Bond

“People often ask me why my style is so simple. It is, in fact, deceptively simple, for no two sentences are alike. It is clarity that I am striving to attain, not simplicity.

Of course, some people want literature to be difficult and there are writers who like to make their readers toil and sweat. They hope to be taken more seriously that way. I have always tried to achieve a prose that is easy and conversational. And those who think this is simple should try it for themselves.”
― Ruskin Bond, Best Of Ruskin Bond

“Book readers are special people, and they will always turn to books as the ultimate pleasure. Those who do not read are the unfortunate ones. There's nothing wrong with them; but they are missing out on one of life's compensations and rewards. A great book is a friend that never lets you down. You can return to it again and again and the joy first derived from it will still be there.”
― Ruskin Bond

“How evanescent those loves and friendships seem at this distance in time…We move on, make new attachments. We grow old. But sometimes, we hanker for old friendships, the old loves. Sometimes I wish I was young again. Or that I could travel back in time and pick up the threads. Absent so long, I may have stopped loving you, friends; but I will never stop loving the Day I loved you.”
― Ruskin Bond - Delhi is not far

“Hapiness is as exclusive as a butterfly, and you must never pursue it. If you stay very still, it may come and settle on your hand. But only briefly. Savour those moments, for they will not come in your way very often.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Little Book of Life

“It is always the same with mountains. Once you have lived with them for any length of time, you belong to them. There is no escape.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

“But the trees seemed to know me. They whispered among themselves and beckoned me nearer. And looking around, I noticed the other small trees and wild plants and grasses had sprung up under the protection of the trees we had placed there.

The trees had multiplied! They were moving. In one small corner of the world, Grandfather's dream was coming true and the trees were moving again.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rusty: The Boy from the Hill

“Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Book of Simple Living

“All glory comes from daring to begin.”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

“Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships”
― Ruskin Bond, Ruskin Bond's Book Of Nature

“The past is always with us, for it feeds the present.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Town Called Dehra

“On books and friends I spend my money;
For stones and bricks I haven't any.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

“I don't want to rot like mangoes at the end of the season, or burnout like the sun at the and of the day. I cannot live like the gardener, the cook and water-carrier, doing the same task everyday of my life... I want to be either somebody or nobody. I don't want to be anybody.”
― Ruskin Bond, The Room on the Roof

“It's courage, not luck, that takes us through to the end of the road.”
― Ruskin Bond

“Normally writers do not talk much,because they are saving their conversations for the readers of their book-
those invisible listeners with whom we wish to strike a sympathetic chord.”
― Ruskin Bond

“I am still on my zigzag way, pursuing the diagonal between reason and heart.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

“love is undying,of that I feel certain.I mean deep,abiding,cherishing love.The love that gives protection even as you,my guardian angel,gave me protection long after you had gone-and continue to give this very day...
A love beyond Death-a love that makes Life alive!”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

“Yesterday, I was sad, tomorrow i may be sad again, but today i know that i am happy. I want to live on and on, delighting like a pagan in all that is physical; and i know that this one lifetime, however long, cannot satisfy my heart.”
― Ruskin Bond, Delhi Is Not Far

“And when all the wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin Bond, The Best of Ruskin Bond

“...for everytime I see the sky I'm aware of belonging to the universe than to just one corner of the earth.”
― Ruskin Bond

“Hinduism comes closest to being a nature religion. Rivers, rocks, trees, plants, animals, and birds all play their part, both in mythology and everyday worship. This harmony is most evident in remote places like this, and I hope it does not loose its unique character in the ruthless urban advance.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

“Some of us are born sensitive. And if, on top of that, we are pulled about in different directions (both emotionally and physically), we might just end up becoming writers.
No, we don't become writers in schools of creative writing. We become writers before we learn to write. The rest is simply learning how to put it all together.”
― Ruskin Bond

“The world keeps on changing, but there is always something, somewhere, that remains the same.”
― Ruskin Bond

“Yes, I'd love to have a garden of my own--spacious, and full of everything that is fragrant and flowering. But if I don't succeed, never mind--I've still got the dream.”
― Ruskin Bond, Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas

“live close to nature and you'll never feel lonely. Don't drive those sparrows out of your veranda; they won't hack into your computer.”
― Ruskin Bond

“I have never been a fast walker, or a conqueror of mountain peaks, but I can plod along for miles. And that's what I've been doing all my life—plodding along, singing my song, telling my tales in my own unhurried way. I have lived life at my own gentle pace, and if as a result I have failed to get to the top of the mountain (or of anything else), it doesn't matter, the long walk has brought its own sweet rewards; buttercups and butterflies along the way.   Ruskin Bond Landour, March 2005  ”
― Ruskin Bond, Roads to Mussoorie

“Out of the city and over the hill,
Into the spaces where Time stands still,
Under the tall trees, touching old wood,
Taking the way where warriors once stood;
Crossing the little bridge, losing my way,
But finding a friendly place where I can stay.
Those were the days, friend, when we were strong
And strode down the road to an old marching song
When the dew on the grass was fresh every morn,
And we woke to the call of the ring-dove at dawn.
The years have gone by, and sometimes I falter,
But still I set out for a stroll or a saunter,
For the wind is as fresh as it was in my youth,
And the peach and the pear, still the sweetest of fruit,
So cast away care and come roaming with me,
Where the grass is still green and the air is still free.”
― Ruskin Bond

“The best kind of walk, and this applies to the plains as well as to the hills, is the one in which you have no particular destination when you set out.”
― Ruskin Bond, Roads to Mussoorie

“You don’t have to lie if you know how to withhold the truth.”
― Ruskin Bond, The Room on the Roof