Khushwant Singh Quotes & Sayings

Passions have made mortals of us men. If men were not slaves of passion, they would have been Gods, each one. — Khushwant Singh

There was another matter which caused much disturbance in our mind: the viciousness of sibling rivalry. We knew that kingship knows no kinship. No bridge of affection spans the abyss that separates a monarch from his sons; no bonds of affection exist between the sons of kings. Sired though they may have been by the same loins, lain in succession in the same womb and suckled the same breasts, no sooner were they old enough to know the world than they understood that they must destroy their siblings or be destroyed themselves. — Khushwant Singh

The Indian peasant is the world's champion shitter. Stacks of chappaties and mounds of mustard leaf-mash down the hatch twice a day; stacks of shit a.m. and p.m. — Khushwant Singh

In America, they make a lot of fuss over little things. — Khushwant Singh

To know India and her peoples, one has to know the monsoon. one has to know the monsoon. It is not enough to read about it in books, or see it on the cinema screen, or hear someone talk about it. It has to be a personal experience because nothing short of living through it can fully convey all it means to a people for whom it is not only the source of life, but also their most exciting impact with nature. — Khushwant Singh

I believe that the essence of every person's religion should be the endeavour not to hurt another person or living thing and to preserve his environment. — Khushwant Singh

A husband comes home from satsang and greets his wife, lifts her up and carries her around the house. His wife is surprised and asks, 'Did the Swami ji preach about being romantic today?' Her husband replies, 'No, he said we must carry our burdens and sorrows with a smile. — Khushwant Singh

That's Delhi. When life gets too much for you all you need to do is to spend an hour at Nigambodh Ghat,watch the dead being put to flames and hear their kin wail for them. Then come home and down a couple of pegs of whisky. In Delhi, death and drink make life worth living, — Khushwant Singh

He told us of an incident from the life of the Prophet Musa. Musa heard a poor shepherd praying: 'Where art Thou that I may serve Thee? I will mend Thy boots, comb Thy hair, give Thee milk from my goats.' Musa reprimanded the shepherd for so speaking to God. God in His turn reprimanded Musa. 'Thou hast driven away one of my true servants. — Khushwant Singh

If the blanket of man's fate has been woven black, even the waters of Zam Zam and Kausar cannot wash it white. — Khushwant Singh

Nature provides that a man who slaves all day should spend the hours of the night in a palace full of houris whereas a king who wields the sceptre by day should have his sleep disturbed by nightmares of rebellion and assassination. — Khushwant Singh

One thing Mr Chaudhuri has overlooked in his remarkable thesis on Hinduism: no religious community in India would take this tarring and feathering of all that they hold sacred save the Hindus. — Khushwant Singh

Consciousness of the bad is an essential prerequisite to the promotion of the good. — Khushwant Singh

The prose-poems of the Japji envelop us by opening our third eye to the experience of concrete manifestations of nature, the overall circle of light, which shone in the nimbus, which people saw around Nanak's face, lit up by the shimmering glow of the flame which burnt inside him. It — Khushwant Singh

No one has invented a condom for the pen yet — Khushwant Singh

Bombay, you will be told, is the only city India has, in the sense that the word city is understood in the West. Other Indian metropolises like Calcutta, Madras and Delhi are like oversized villages. It is true that Bombay has many more high-rise buildings than any other Indian city: when you approach it by the sea it looks like a miniature New York. It has other things to justify its city status: it is congested, it has traffic jams at all hours of the day, it is highly polluted and many parts of it stink. — Khushwant Singh

His (Juggut Singh's) equation with authority was simple: he was on the other side. Personalities did not come into it. Subinspectors & policemen were people in khaki who frequently arrested him, always abused him, and sometimes beat him. Since they abused him and beat him without anger or hate, they were not human beings with names. They were only denominations one tried to get the better of. If one failed, it was just bad luck. — Khushwant Singh

When the world is itself draped in the mantle of night, the mirror of the mind is like the sky in which thoughts twinkle like stars. — Khushwant Singh

We are of the mysterious East. No proof, just faith. No reason, just faith. — Khushwant Singh

They dressed for dinner and followed the strict discipline of upper class English families. The next morning they took me with them for the county fox hunt. Since I could not ride, I asked to be excused. But I did get to see the ritual of dress, the hierarchy observed among hunting types, the blowing of horns, the handling of beagles, a poor fox being run to death and having its tail (brush) cut off. Having achieved their object, glasses of sherry were passed round like prasad after a religious service. — Khushwant Singh

The eye hath ruined me,' the heart complained. 'The heart has lost me,' the eye replied. I know not which told the truth, which lied Between, the two, it was Meer who died. — Khushwant Singh

If you look at things as they are, there does not seem to be a code either of man or of God on which one can pattern one's conduct. Wrong triumphs over right as much as right over wrong. Sometimes its triumphs are greater. What happens ultimately, you do not know. In such circumstances what can you do but cultivate an utter indifference to all values? Nothing matters. Nothing whatever ... — Khushwant Singh

Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians - or the Pakistanis. — Khushwant Singh

According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped. — Khushwant Singh

A QUESTION OF SALARY Santa was filling up an application form for a job. He was not sure as to what to put in the column 'Salary Expected'. After much thought he wrote : 'Yes, please. — Khushwant Singh

There is no wine in the world as heady as applause; and it has the same effect. It temporarily subdues anxiety and restores confidence. — Khushwant Singh

A Turk for toughness, for hands that never tire; An Indian for her rounded bosom bursting with milk; A Persian for her tight crotch and her coquetry; An Uzbeg to thrash as a lesson for the three. — Khushwant Singh

Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on you cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view. — Khushwant Singh

I do not restrain desire Until my desire is satisfied Or until my body touches hers, Or my soul from my body goes. When I am dead, open my tomb, You will see my heart on fire And my shroud in smoke. — Khushwant Singh

I believe I did succeed in making Indian uslims look upon me as a friend: when I was nominated to be a member of the Rajya Sabha many said, "We have another Muslim in Parliament." Others who disliked my views called me an unpaid agent of Pakistan. I treated both views as compliments. — Khushwant Singh

Oh the gladness of her gladness when she's glad, And the sadness of her sadness when she's sad; But the gladness of her gladness, And the sadness of her sadness, Are as nothing, Charles, To the badness of her badness when she is bad. — Khushwant Singh

Unless a miracle saves us,' Khushwant Singh writes, 'the country will break up. It will not be Pakistan or any other foreign power that will destroy us; we will commit hara-kiri. — Khushwant Singh

We also knew that it was in the nature of an empty stomach to produce illusions of grandeur. — Khushwant Singh

We had heard that the people of Delhi loved their city as bees love flowers. But we could not believe that the child of a courtesan would prefer to live in a Delhi brothel rather than in our palace in Iran! — Khushwant Singh

I asked my soul: What is Delhi? She replied: The world is the body and Delhi its life. Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib — Khushwant Singh

how much of what he told me of his past was true and how much he made up to hold my interest. — Khushwant Singh

I am back in my beloved city. The scene of desolation fills my eyes with tears. At every step my distress and agitation increases. I cannot recognize houses or landmarks I once knew well. Of the former inhabitants, there is no trace. Everywhere there is a terrible emptiness. All at once I find myself in the quarter where I once resided. I recall the life I used to live: meeting friends in the evening, reciting poetry, making love, spending sleepless nights pining for beautiful women and writing verses on their long tresses which held me captive. That was life! What is there left of it? Nothing. — Khushwant Singh

Men have many faults, women only two: Everything they say, and everything they do. — Khushwant Singh

There is no wine in this world as heady as applause. — Khushwant Singh

missing anything. The northern horizon, which had turned a bluish grey, showed orange again. The orange turned into copper and then into a luminous russet. Red tongues of flame leaped into the black sky. A soft — Khushwant Singh

We can see the process of deification taking place in the Indians' perception of Mahatma Gandhi. Here we had as great a man as any the world has seen, but also full of human frailties. Not one of his four sons got on with him; one even embraced Islam to spite him. He was vain, took offence at the slightest remark against him, and a fad-ist who made nubile girls lie naked next to him to make sure that he had overcome his libidinous desires. All these failings which make him human and down to earth and yet hold him up as a shining example of a human being for all of mankind are being lost thanks to our putting him on a pedestal and worshipping him. It is time we learnt to give avatars and prophets their proper places as important historical personalities who did good to humanity. No more than that. — Khushwant Singh

It was again to the Prophet Musa that Allah conveyed the essence of true religion. The Almighty said. 'I was sick, and you did not come to see me. I was hungry, and you did not give me food.' Musa asked 'My God, can you also be sick and hungry?' God replied 'My servant so-and-so was sick, and my servant so-and-so was hungry. If you had visited one and fed the other, you would have found me with them. — Khushwant Singh

Why Menon got where he did under the patronage of Pandit Nehru remains, and probably will remain, unexplained. Panditji had him elected to Parliament and sent to the United Nations to lead the Indian delegation. His marathon thirteen-hour speech on Kashmir won India a unanimous vote against it. He was then made Defence Minister against the wishes of almost all the members of the Cabinet. He wrecked army discipline by promoting favourites over the heads of senior officers. He was vindictive against those who stood up to him. More than anyone else he was responsible for the humiliating defeat of our army at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. Pandit Nehru stuck by him to the last. — Khushwant Singh

Secularism has two meanings: the Western concept makes a clear distinction between functions of the State which includes politics and functions of religion which are confined to places of worship, public or private. This is the concept that Nehru accepted, preached and practiced. The other concept was equal respect for all religions. This was propagated and observed by men like Bapu Gandhi and Maulana Azad and lasted as long as the two men were alive. After that it deteriorated to a mere display of religiosity. If you were a devout Hindu you went to a Muslim dargah or threw an Iftar party to prove you were secular. If you were Muslim, you celebrated Diwali with your Hindu friends. Secularism was reduced to a sham display. Time has shown that as far as secularism is concerned, Nehru was right; Gandhi and Azad were wrong. — Khushwant Singh

Voh waqt bhee deykha taareekh kee gharion nay Lamhon nay khataa kee thee Sadiyon nay sazaa paayee (The ages of history have recorded times when for an error made in a few seconds centuries had to pay the price.) — Khushwant Singh

A Sikh woman takes the surname Kaur on baptism. Kaur was also a common surname for Rajput women and means both a princess and lioness. — Khushwant Singh

(Whichever way you look there is a din of tumult; Whichever way you go there are flames and torches; For tonight this world is heavy with labour pain; To give birth to a world which will forever remain.) — Khushwant Singh

The woman wants the man to love her for ever and ever. She deliberately shuts her eyes to those two terrible enemies - Time and Change. Men are more realistic. They know that all things pass. And yet, it's precisely out of this tension between the two sexes that civilization has evolved. Had this not been present, man would have become extinct like the many animals who were overtaken by this fate. Why do I say this? Because I see this "push" and "pull" as masculine and feminine principles, respectively, both of which are essential for the survival of the human race. — Khushwant Singh

In the absence of men all women are chaste. — Khushwant Singh

Once through this ruined city did I pass
I espied a lonely bird on a bough and asked
'What knowest thou of this wilderness?'
It replied: 'I can sum it up in two words:
'Alas, Alas! — Khushwant Singh

with their weapons. One struck it with his — Khushwant Singh

The last to learn of gossip are the parties concerned — Khushwant Singh

His mind was like the delicate spring of a watch, which quivers for several hours after it has been touched. — Khushwant Singh

In a country which had accepted caste distinctions for many centuries, inequality had become an inborn mental concept. — Khushwant Singh

The need of our times is to revive the Nehruvian notion of secularism. — Khushwant Singh

When you have counted eighty years and more, Time and Fate will batter at your door; But if you should survive to be a hundred, Your life will be death to the very core. — Khushwant Singh

What do the Gandhi-caps in Delhi know about the Punjab? What is happening on the other side in Pakistan does not matter to them. They have not lost their homes and belongings; they haven't had their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters raped and murdered in the streets. — Khushwant Singh

The doer must do only when the receiver is ready to receive. Otherwise, the act is wasted. — Khushwant Singh

Not forever does the bulbul sing In balmy shades of bowers, Not forever lasts the spring Nor ever blossom flowers. Not forever reigneth joy, Sets the sun on days of bliss, Friendships not forever last, They know not life, who know not this. — Khushwant Singh

But if they asked me 'Abdullah when will you become a true Muslim?' I would reply 'Soon, if that be the will of God - Inshallah.' If anyone asked me whether we were Hindus or Mussalmans, we would reply we were both. Nizamuddin was our umbrella against the burning sun of Muslim bigotry and the downpour of Hindu contempt. — Khushwant Singh

India is constipated with a lot of humbug. Take religion. For the Hindu, it means little besides caste and cow-protection. For the Muslim, circumcision and kosher meat. For the Sikh, long hair and hatred of the Muslim. For the Christian, Hinduism with a sola topee. For the Parsi, fire-worship and feeding vultures. Ethics, which should be the kernel of a religious code, has been carefully removed. — Khushwant Singh

But big people's illnesses are always made to sound big. The simple shutting and opening of the royal arse-hole was made to sound as if the world was coming to an end. — Khushwant Singh

Morality is a matter of money. Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion. — Khushwant Singh

The government should, as a matter of policy, forbid the building of any more places of worship. We have more than enough of them. The government should never permit the use of public parks or open spaces for religious gathering, and if a place of worship becomes a bone of contention or happens to be misused by undesirable elements, it should simply take it over. — Khushwant Singh

We are a nation of fence-sitters, face-flatterers and back-biters. — Khushwant Singh

What the four seasons of the year mean to the European, the one season of monsoon means to the Indian. — Khushwant Singh

Indians abroad tend to stick together. They join Indian clubs, regularly visit mosques, temples and gurdwaras and eat Indian food at home or in Indian restaurants. Very rarely do they mix with the English on the same terms as they do with their own countrymen. This kind of island-ghetto existence feeds on stereotypes - the English are very reserved; they do not invite outsiders to their homes because they regard their homes as their castles; English women are frigid, etc. I discovered that none of this was true. In the years that followed, I made closer friends with English men and women than I did with Indians. I lived in dozens of English homes and shared their family problems. And I discovered to my delight that nothing was further from the truth that the canard that English women are frigid. — Khushwant Singh

The Muslims had become masters of Hindustan. They were quite willing to let us Hindus live our lives as we wanted to provided we recognized them as our rulers. But the Hindus were full of foolish pride. 'This is our country!' they said. 'We will drive out these cow-killers and destroyers of our temples.' They were especially contemptuous towards Hindus who had embraced Islam and treated them worse than untouchables. — Khushwant Singh