Famous Quotes & Sayings

R.K. Narayan Quotes & Sayings

Enjoy the top 69 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by R.K. Narayan.

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Famous Quotes By R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1735878

people only follow their inclinations, and sooner or later find their reward or retribution. That's the natural law of life, — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 135682

By the twelfth day of his fast, Raju himself has become a tourist attraction. Before an enormous crowd and an American television crew, the starving man is helped down to the drought-stricken river to pray: — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1231817

In a world where we are accustomed to rivalries over possession, authority, and borders, and people clashing over the issue, "Ours," or "Mine, not yours," it is rather strange to find two people debating whose the kingdom is not, and asserting: "Yours, not mine. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2257405

We come together only to go apart again. The law of life can't be avoided. The law comes into operation the moment we detach ourselves from our mother's womb. All struggle & misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false. The law of life. No sense in battling against it ... — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1188228

Even when you realize that the one before you is an enemy and must be treated sternly, do not hurt with words. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1035283

Project is a self-contained phrase and may or may not be capable of elaboration. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1240745

You know why I am here? asked the headmaster.
Swaminathan searched for an answer: the headmaster might be there to receive letters from boy's parents; he might be there to flay Ebenzars alive; he might be there to deliver six cuts with his cane every Monday at twelve o'clock. And above all why this question? — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1844621

It's often said that God made man in His own image, it's also true that man makes God in his own image. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 118472

The next three days I was very busy. My table was placed in the front room of the new house. All my papers and books were arranged neatly. My clothes hung on a peg. The rest of the house was swept and cleaned. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 221359

It was Monday morning. Swaminathan was reluctant to open his eyes. he considered Monday specially unpleasant in the calendar. After the delicious freedom of Saturday and Sunday, it was difficult to get into the Monday mood of work and discipline. He shuddered at the very thought of school: the dismal yellow building; the fire-eyed Vedanayagam, his class teacher, and headmaster with his thin long cane ... — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 93588

I shun all activities and you have none. You have freed yourself from all duties which had been forced on you. And so you need not know what time of the day or what time of the week, or numbers, reckoning of before and after, when and how far; in short you don't have to know the business of counting, which habit has made us human beings miserable in many ways. We have lost the faculty of appreciating the present living moment. We are always looking forward or backward and waiting for one or sighing for the other, and lose the pleasure of awareness of the moment in which we actually exist. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1470577

Friendship was another illusion like love, though it did not reach the same mad heights. People pretended that they were friends, when the fact was they were brought together by force of circumstances. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1596470

The difference between a simpleton and an intelligent man, according to the man who is convinced that he is of the latter category, is that the former wholeheartedly accepts all things that he sees and hears while the latter never admits anything except after a most searching scrutiny. He imagines his intelligence to be a sieve of closely woven mesh through which nothing but the finest can pass. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1582619

In a few months I was a seasoned guide. I had viewed myself as an amateur guide and a professional shopman, but now gradually I began to think of myself as a part-time shop-keeper and a full-time tourist guide. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1616900

Society presses upon us all the time. The progress of the last half century is the progress of the frog out of his well. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1393702

Rama glanced at her whenever a beautiful object caught his eye. Every tint of the sky, every shape of a flower or bud, every elegant form of a creeper reminded him of some aspect or other of Sita's person. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1651267

This work opens the eyes of the world blinded by ignorance. As the sun dispels darkness, so does Bharata by its exposition of religion, duty, action, contemplation, and so forth. As the full moon by shedding soft light helps the buds of the lotus to open, so this Purana by its exposition expands the human intellect. The lamp of history illumines the 'whole mansion of the womb of Nature.' - Vyasa — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1564077

At this moment, let us not forget that my authority has been challenged not by a warrior but by a monkey! — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1543118

You threw a stone into a gutter it would only spurt filth in your face. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1540838

Past is gone, present is going, and tomorrow is day after tomorrow's yesterday. So why worry about anything? God is in all this. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1519023

What you see is my old shell; inside it's all changed. You can't share my life. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1513737

A man who preferred to dress like a permanent tourist was just what a guide passionately looked for all his life. You may want to ask why I became a guide or when. I was a guide for the same reason as someone else is a signaler, porter, or guard. It is fated thus. Don't laugh at my railway associations. The railways got into my blood very early in life. Engines with their tremendous clanging — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1420304

Those who believe in destiny and those who drift without such beliefs are alike the worst among men; only those who act and perform what is right for their station in life are worthy of praise. Man — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2264814

It seems to me that we generally do not have a correct measure of our own wisdom. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1693114

You become [a] writer by writing. It is a yoga. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1761451

I am up against the system, the whole method & approach of a system of education which makes us morons, cultural morons, but efficient clerks for all your business and administrative offices. This education had reduced us to a nation of morons; we were strangers to our own culture and camp followers of another culture, feeding on leavings & garbage ... — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1815267

One often hears of suicide pacts. It seems to me a wonderful solution, like going on a long holiday. We could sit and talk one night perhaps, and sip our glasses of milk, and maybe we should wake up in a trouble-free world. I'd propose it this very minute if I were sure you would keep the pact, but I fear that I may go ahead and you may change your mind at the last second.
'And have the responsibility of disposing of your body?' I said, which was the worst thing I could have said. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1820222

He(Samuel, known as 'the Pea') was as apprehensive, weak and nervous about things as Swaminathan was. The bond between them was laughter. They were able to see together the same absurdities and incongruities in things. The most trivial and unnoticeable thing to others would tickle them to death. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1882240

Swaminathan had never thought that this story contained a moral. But now he felt that it must have one since the question paper mentioned it. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1891828

You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1932057

How can two living entities possessing intelligence and judgement ever be tied together for a lifetime? — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1985915

Life is about making right things and going on.. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2013921

I came in several times and spoke, but perhaps you were asleep when I thought you were awake.'
'You are very considerate to explain it this way,' Sugreeva said, 'but I was drunk — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2041846

A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2078886

When one is seized with a passion to understand one's self, one has to leave behind all normal life and habitual modes of thought. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2209104

If someone should ask, "how should an Opposition function?" the best answer would be, "in the manner of a traditional mother-in-law who watches the performance of household work by a daughter-in-law and follows her about with her comments. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2239179

Then there was Mani, the Mighty Good-For-Nothing. He towered above all the other boys of the class. He seldom brought any books to the class, and never bothered about homework. He came to the class, monopolized the last bench, ans slept bravely. No teacher ever tried to prod him. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 2252709

What can we do with a creature who returns to his doom with such a free heart? — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 74594

Every creature is born with a potential store of violence. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 902457

The sun set beyond thesea, so says the poet - and when a poet mentions a sea, we have to accept it; no harm in letting a poet describe his vision, no need to question his geography. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 125725

Knowledge, like food, must be taken within limits. You must know only as much as you need, and not more. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 135441

If we do not accomplish it in time, what has begun with a monkey may not end with a monkey. Next even a swarm of mosquitoes may decide to challenge your authority. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 223259

everyone is acting a part all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 252266

The gods grow jealous of too much contentment anywhere, and they show their displeasure all of a sudden. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 318082

He then explained his new philosophy, which followed the devastating discovery that Love and Friendship were the veriest illusions. He explained that people married because their sexual appetite had to be satisfied and there must be somebody to manage the house. There was nothing deeper than that in any man and woman relationship. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 333217

Every minute becomes a yesterday and is lost forever. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 356685

The compartment built to 'seat 8 passengers; 4 British Troops, or 6 Indian Troops' now carried only nine. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 393151

Death and its associates, after the initial shock, produce callousness. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 434450

This education has reduced us to a nation of morons; we were strangers to our own culture and camp followers of another culture, feeding on leavings and garbage ... What about our own roots? ... I am up against the system, the whole method and approach of a system of education which makes us morons, cultural morons, but efficient clerks for all your business and administration offices. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 497410

This is my child. I planted it. I saw it grow. I loved it. Don't cut it down ... — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 666640

Do you realize how few ever really understand how fortunate they are in their circumstances? — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 735699

Certain things acquired an evil complexion if phrased, but remained harmless in the mind. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 764761

For all its idyllic charm, and in the joy of companionship of Sita, Rama never lost sight of his main purpose in settling down in this region - he had come here to encounter and destroy the asuras, the fiends who infested this area, causing suffering and hardship to all the good souls who only wanted to be left alone to pursue their spiritual aims in peace. Rama's whole purpose of incarnation was ultimately to destroy Ravana, the chief of the asuras, abolish fear from the hearts of men and gods, and establish peace, gentleness, and justice in the world. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 781668

The faint aroma of gum and calico that hangs about a library is as the fragrance of incense to me. I think the most beautiful sight is the gilt-edged backs of a row of books on a shelf. The alley between two well-stocked shelves in a hall fills me with the same delight as passing through a silent avenue of trees. The colour of a binding-cloth and its smooth texture gives me the same pleasure as touching a flower on its stalk. A good library hall has an atmosphere which elates. I have seen one or two University Libraries that have the same atmosphere as a chapel, with large windows, great trees outside, and glass doors sliding on noiseless hinges. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1390852

But you are not my wife. You are a woman who will go to bed with anyone who flatters your antics. That's — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 936949

The unbeaten brat will remain unlearned, — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1036464

But if you could read my thoughts, you would be welcome to come in
and listen to the story of my life. At least, you could slip your arm through
the bars and touch me and I will hold out my forepaw to greet you, after
retracting my claws, of course. You are carried away by appearances - my
claws and fangs and the glowing eyes frighten you no doubt. I don't blame
you. I don't know why God has chosen to give us this fierce make-up, the
same God who has created the parrot, the peacock, and the deer, which
inspire poets and painters. I would not blame you for keeping your distance
- I myself shuddered at my own reflection on the still surface of a pond
while crouching for a drink of water, not when I was really a wild beast, but
after I came under the influence of my Master and learnt to question, 'Who
am I?' Don't laugh within yourself to hear me speak thus. I'll tell you about
my Master presently. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1066751

The only trouble was that the scripture master, Mr. Ebenzar, was a fanatic. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1073694

We always question the bonafides of the man who tells us unpleasant facts. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1139006

If he(Mani) were Swaminathan, he would have closed the whole incident at the beginning by hurling an ink-bottle, if nothing bigger was available, at the teacher. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1186632

Two and two, four; four and three, something else. Something into something, more; some more into less. Oh, God, numbers did give me a headache. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1186886

It is stimulating to live in a society that is not standardized or mechanized, and is free from monotony. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1192210

There are no more surprises and shocks in life, so that I watch the flame without agitation. For me the greatest reality is this and nothing else... Nothing else will worry or interest me in life hereafter. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1241422

violence cannot be everlasting. Sooner or later it has to go, if not through wisdom, definitely through decrepitude, which comes on with years, whether one wants it or not. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1253719

But it was like hiding a corpse. I've come to the conclusion that nothing in this world can be hidden or suppressed. All such attempts are like holding an umbrella to conceal the sun. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1283856

Of his views on education, he says, 'My natural aversion to academic education was further strengthened when I came across an essay by Rabindranath Tagore on education. It confirmed my own precocious conclusions on the subject. I liked to be free to read what I please and not be examined at all.' After — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1295477

But there is this peculiarity about heat: it appears to affect only those that think of it. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1296336

No one ever accepts criticism so cheerfully. Neither the man who utters it nor the man who invites it really means it. — R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan Quotes 1359524

All the jarring, rattling and clanking, spurting and hissing of the moving train of the train dissolved in the distance into something that was half a sob and half a sigh. — R.K. Narayan