Pranu

“A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.”
― R. Scott Bakker, The Judging Eye

“It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“जब नाश मनुज पर छाता है, पहले विवेक मर जाता है। हरि ने भीषण हुङ्कार किया, अपना स्वरूप-विस्तार किया, डगमग-डगमग दिग्गज डोले, भगवान् कुपित होकर बोले- “ज़ंजीर बढ़ा कर साध मुझे, हाँ-हाँ, दुर्योधन! बाँध मुझे। “यह देख, गगन मुझमें लय है, यह देख, पवन मुझमें लय है, मुझमें विलीन झङ्कार सकल, मुझमें लय है संसार सकल। अमरत्व फूलता है मुझमें, संहार झूलता है मुझमें।”
― Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', रश्मिरथी

“Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale