Chatterjee Quotes & Sayings

Well, life is dark, isn't it? Mostly, it's dreadful. At the same time, death is funny too. I mean, look at the fuss we make of it. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

He absent-mindedly fondled his crotch and then whipped his hand away.No masturbation,he suddenly decided.He tried to think about this but sustained logical thought on one topic was difficult and unnecessary.No,i am not wasting any semen on Madna.It was an impulse,but he felt that he should record it.In the diary under that date,he wrote,'From today no masturbation.Test your will,you bastard'. Then he wondered at his bravado.No masturbation at all?That was impossible. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Success comes from people (leaders) who are motivated by the change, not who need to be motivated by the change. — Amit Chatterjee

It's a huge headache - the more money you have, the more hassles. I find money very uncomfortable. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Several years ago, Debashish Chatterjee, a good friend and well-known author on leadership1 opened a seminar on leadership at MIT by saying, 'I've been guided in my work by the notion that older is often better. If an idea has been around for a few thousand years, it's been submitted to many tests - which is a good indicator that it might have some real merit. We're fixated on newness, which often misleads us into elevating novelty over substance. — Peter M. Senge

I don't think I would do better books if I wrote full time. I write for amateurish reasons. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

When you start loving yourself, others around you will also start loving you. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

We have good leadership only by chance, not by management.

And we need to change that! — Amit Chatterjee

The question isn't what will a mother do to save her child. The question is, what won't a mother do to save her child! — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

The absence of dissent does not necessarily imply acceptance; just tolerance. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

We're only as good as our word. — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

To enter the corporate rat race, you need to become a rat. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

What if happiness is a choice? — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

People like you end up dead. One day they are roaming about in their underpants pretending to be Superman and the next day they are killed because they jump off their roof thinking that they can fly! — Abhik Chatterjee

Why put temptations my way when I've decided to sacrifice my future? — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

Paradoxes are what draws Wisdom like bees to honey! Hence, where there is no paradox (Complexity), there is no need for Wisdom.... — Amit Chatterjee

If I fail, I should not fail for lack of trying, but in spite. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

The poorest of women is the one without close girlfriends — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

The Collectorship of Madna is the seventh post that he has held in eight years. He is quite philosophic about the law that governs the transfer of civil servants; he sees it as a sort of corollary to the law of karma, namely, that the whole of life passes through innumerable and fundamentally mystifying changes, and these changes are sought to be determined by our conduct, our deeds (otherwise, we would quite simply lose our marbles); only thus can we even pretend to satisfactorily explain the mystery of suffering, which is a subject that has troubled thoughtful souls all over the world since time immemorial. It is also a hypothesis that justifies the manifest social inequalities of the Hindu community. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

The most prevalent form of slavery is being a slave of your own insecurities Or exploiting another's vulnerabilities.

Lust, greed and anger are the pitfalls of the short sighted. Long term business is not possible through lust, greed, anger or guile; it is done based on 'sustainable' relationships; And that is possible when happiness is your goal and each individual you transact with, is a 'strong adult Individual'. We need to invest in ourselves to make us one and in others to help them become the same.

It IS in my Selfish interest to have strong, adult individuals around! — Amit Chatterjee

The day you call someone "Mother" is the day their pain is hers to bear, your burden hers to carry. — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

Do not let others drive that vehicle, called life, for you. Grab that steering wheel and discover unexplored destinations. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

So much better to write pen on paper; you can do it anywhere, say, while stuck at the airport. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

She slapped him. Hard. "Tell me!" she screamed, "TELL ME!".
"The truth is...I am a liar," Jack said quietly.
"Don't be one with me," she sobbed, "it hurts."
"The lies or the truth?" he asked. — Abhik Chatterjee

Future has a scheming, naughty and intelligent mind. It is never fully predictable! — Amit Chatterjee

Only when you die will you cease to feel ridiculous. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

I feel completely at home in the absurdities of India. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Management is the kitchen that produces a delicious meal, where Leadership is the Chef hooked by a purpose across the canyon of risks that adds the fragrance and taste to make it go beyond expectations. — Amit Chatterjee

No! Leadership is not the business of people who need to be motivated! — Amit Chatterjee

Anyone who has grown up in Delhi knows it's horrible. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Life can be a beautiful journey if you accept who you are and accept the people around you for what they are. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

In his essay,Agastya had said that his real ambition was to be a domesticated male stray dog because they lived the best life.They were assured of food,and because they were stray they didn't have to guard a house or beg or shake paws or fetch trifles or be clean or anything similarly meaningless to earn their food.They were servile and sycophantic when hungry;once fed,and before sleep,they wagged their tails perfunctorily whenever their hosts passes,as an investment for future meals.A stray dog was free,he slept a lot,barked unexpectedly and only when he wanted to,and got a lot of sex. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

For me, comedy is richer and larger than anything else. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Amidst one's daily clutter, one doesn't usually reflect on the splendour of being free because - naturally - one has to get on with the business of living. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Most of us, Ogu, live with a vague dissatisfaction, if we are lucky. Living as we do, upon us is imposed a particular rhythm - birth, education, a job, marriage, then birth again, but we all have minds don't we?
For most Indians of your age, just getting any job is enough. You were more fortunate for you had options before you.
These sound like paternal homilies, don't they, but you've always had surrogate parents, your aunts, and then in Delhi, your Pultukaku, and we've not really spent much time together. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

I'm happy for you Agastya,you're leaving for a more meaningful context. This place is like a parody, a complete farce, they're trying to build another Cambridge here. At my old University I used to teach Macbeth to my MA English classes in Hindi.English in India is burlesque. But now you'll get out of here to somehow a more real situation. In my time I'd wanted to give this Civil Service exam too, I should have. Now I spend my time writing papers for obscure journals on L. H. Myers and Wyndham Lewis, and teaching Conrad to a bunch of half-wits. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

What if happiness was a choice? — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

I need to have some depth in my characters. That's why they are all Bengalis. I can't imagine writing a book with someone called Saxena as the hero. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

The golden (logarithmic) spiral. The golden rectangle is formed by two sides comprised of the golden ratio. Portioning off a square within the golden rectangle leaves a smaller golden rectangle, a pattern that can be repeated ad infinitum. Connecting the points of the successively smaller squares gives the golden spiral found in nautilus shells, rams' horns, whirlpools, and galaxies. — Anjan Chatterjee

Freedom is the right to live without fear. — Lakshmy Menon Chatterjee

Happiness comes from what you love to do, not necessarily from what you need to do; to succeed! — Amit Chatterjee

I would like to think of myself as an artist...excluding the part where he bows before an audience. There are no appreciations for killings. — Abhik Chatterjee

Governance is complex, difficult, and on the whole, thankless - why ever should the Bright Young Things leave the management of their hotels, newspapers, banks, TV channels and corporations to join, like fleas on a behemoth, the government? Wherein lies the difference between the two worlds? — Upamanyu Chatterjee

People should have literary and cultural taste and should not bomb hotels. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

The Practising Manager's Growth Mantra

-Growth in an enterprise is created through remarkable achievements, not incremental achievements like efficiency or effectiveness.

-Remarkable achievements are possible only in complexity.

-Only volitional engagement can work in complexity. Luckily, there is no certainty in complexity. Hence, motivational engagement cannot work.

-People who make choices based on the purpose can only be volitionally engaged - they are the growth managers, the leaders. — Amit Chatterjee

While followers idealize the real, leaders realize the ideal ... They outshine with their power of love those whose only motivation is love of power. — Debashis Chatterjee

Success is a drink you enjoy on the journey towards happiness. Risk is, you could get drunk! — Amit Chatterjee

Both the divine and the devil can sit together within a human being. — Debashis Chatterjee

The more languages you know, the less likely you are to become a terrorist. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Wisdom is available free of charge, but one has to give away somethings to acquire it! — Amit Chatterjee

Leaders are passionate about the Purpose, while Managers need to be passionate about the Results! — Amit Chatterjee

Land is important everywhere, all kinds of land. But you have lived in cities. There you cannot sense the importance of agricultural land, its the real wealth. Each of these squares and hexagrams could be worth lakhs. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Our worth comes from the promises we keep. — Sunanda J. Chatterjee

Advances don't fundamentally interest me. It sounds terribly naive, but money doesn't really mean anything to me. If a lot of money came my way, I'm certainly not going to say no. But it hasn't come my way as yet, and I'm not heartbroken. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

We are men without ambition, and all we want is to be left alone, in peace so that we can try and be happy. So few people will understand this simplicity. — Upamanyu Chatterjee

Parents need to be lucky to be good in parenting; children have to be lucky to have great parents! — Amit Chatterjee