Ahmed

“I repeat, in case you missed it, that there is no greater teacher in this world than misery. It gives you character and respectability if you take from it all that it has to offer. A real friend would point out all your faults, but how many true friends do we have in this world? One if we’re lucky. But misery is a friend that we can always count on. It teaches self-control and helps us to distinguish between right, wrong and necessary. It helps us to contemplate the meaning of life, and if we are unable to find that meaning, it helps us to deal with it. The best advice that I could give you, Ballard, is to not be afraid to befriend misery, because it will haunt and torment you until you do.”
― Sreejit Poole, Of Mind Or Matter

“This: one thing prevented me from seeing any other; a good action, seen too near, concealed a hundred criminal actions from my eyes; on one side an old man, on the other, children, all this came between me and duty. I forgot the villages burned, the fields ravaged, the prisoners massacred, the wounded murdered, the women shot. I forgot France betrayed to England; I liberated the murderer of his country. I am guilty. In speaking thus, I seem to speak against myself; it is a mistake. I am speaking for myself. When the guilty person confesses his fault, he saves the only thing worth the trouble of saving—honor.”
― Victor Hugo, Victor Hugo: The Complete Novels

“It’s all about understanding. One seeks to understand the world and the other to understand ourselves. But more than that, one seeks to control the world and the other its people.”
― Sreejit Poole, Of Mind Or Matter

“They’re talking about things of which they don’t have the slightest understanding, anyway. It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.”
― Franz Kafka, The Trial