Ravish Tiwari

“Whether you extrapolate from Machiavelli or Castiglione, a kind of unworthy wisdom has stood the test of time in statecraft: you should have principles to make your conduct predictable, but at the same time know that you are limiting your options. It works if you are strong because you can force others to conform; but if you are weak, then having no principles means you have limitless options for action and can adjust through flexibility to acts dictated by others.”
― Khaled Ahmed, Sleepwalking to Surrender: Dealing with Terrorism in Pakistan

“Mumbai is a city of stark contrasts - providing opportunities to millionaires to pursue their riches and millions of poor to pursue livelihood. For many, Mumbai is a city where their dreams begin; for many others, it marks and end of a dream.”
― Duvvuri Subbarao, Who Moved My Interest Rate: Leading the Reserve Bank Through Five Turbulent Years

“At the heart of existentialist philosophy is the premise that all existence is absurd. Life has no meaning and death is the ultimate absurdity, But in the course of this absurd existence, man is forced to make choices, even if those choices may be about absurd issues. But man abhors this freedom of choice, a condition called 'existential angst'. Until we reach a time when most of our life lies behind us, we second guess ourselves interminably. 'What if I had done done this?' 'What if I had done that?' 'Could I have learnt from what others before me have done?' But that is a futile endeavor. It is just not possible to pass on the burden of decision-making to someone else, nor is it possible to learn from other's experiences. Every man has to make choices by falling back on his own experience. In short, man is condemned to be free.”
― Duvvuri Subbarao, Who Moved My Interest Rate: Leading the Reserve Bank Through Five Turbulent Years

“We had a hard life but we didn't know it...We had power....it's a power of transformation you have, when you're stuffed full of fear and eagerness - not a thing in your life can escape being momentous. A power you never think of losing because you never know you have it.”
― Alice Munro, Friend of My Youth