Anton Borrman’s Reviews > Shantaram > Status Update

“I saw that then so clearly that it was like understanding a mathematical theorem for the first time. The only kingdom that makes any man a king is the kingdom of his own soul. The only power that has any real meaning is the power to better the world” - 905

”They couldn’t understand that every time I entered the slum I felt the urge to let go and surrender at a simpler, poorer life that was yet richer in respect, and love, and a vicinal connectedness to the surrounding sea of human hearts”-889

Tears begin in the heart, but some of us deny the heart so often, and for so long, that when it speaks we hear not one but a hundred sorrows in the heartbreak. We know that crying is good and natural thing. We know that crying isn’t a weakness, but a kind of strength. Still the weeping rips us root by tangled root from the earth, and we crash like fallen trees when we cry. - 640

Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on a street map drawn by our intersection relationships. We know who we are and we define what we are by references to the people we love and our reasons for loving them. - 632

At first, when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. What we should fear and dread, of course, is that we won’t stop loving them, even after they’re dead and gone. - 629

A wise man once told me - he’s a Muslim by the way - that he has more in common with a rational, reasonable minded Jew than he does with a fanatic from his own religion. He has more in common with a rational, reasonable minded Christian or Buddhist or Hindu than he does with a fanatic from his own religion -621

What would happen if everyone did this thing? Would this help or hinder the movement toward complexity? - 551

Guilt is the hilt of the knife that we use on ourselves, and love is often the blade; but its worry that keeps the knife sharp, and worry that gets most of us in the end - 426

Cruel laughter is the way cowards cry when they’re not alone, and causing pain is how they grieve - 421

Fear dries a man’s mouth, and hate strangles him. That’s why hate has no great literature: real fear and real hate have no words - 414