Rajbir Bhattacharjee

“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”
― Anonymous, Dhammapada, a collection of verses; being one of the canonical books of the Buddhists

“I once asked a few North Koreans if the Buddha was sacred to them. The answer was a mockery of Marxism. ‘Yes, the Buddhists invented printing and production of books,’ said the party-tutored government-appointed interpreter. Only that which is useful is important. In this respect, the capitalists and the communists hold a common view of the ancient past. They are the Benthamite utilitarians. The Savarkarites too use ancient history to instigate and bring together the Hindus. Ganga puja for Modi is a photo opportunity. •”
― U. R. Ananthamurthy, Hindutva or Hind Swaraj

“Procrustes, in Greek mythology, was the cruel owner of a small estate in Corydalus in Attica, on the way between Athens and Eleusis, where the mystery rites were performed. Procrustes had a peculiar sense of hospitality: he abducted travelers, provided them with a generous dinner, then invited them to spend the night in a rather special bed. He wanted the bed to fit the traveler to perfection. Those who were too tall had their legs chopped off with a sharp hatchet; those who were too short were stretched (his name was said to be Damastes, or Polyphemon, but he was nicknamed Procrustes, which meant “the stretcher”).”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
― Gustave Flaubert