“I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing.”

“As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.”

“There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself, an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.”

“There are only two people who tell you the truth about yourself--an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.”

“If there was one thing I feared as I was growing up . . . No, that's stupid. I feared hundreds of things: the dark, the death of my father, the possibility that I might rejoice the death of my mother, sums involving vernier calipers, groups of schoolboys with nothing much to do, death by drowning. But of all these, I feared the most the possibility that I might go mad too.”

“Took myself to Byculla. The area around the elephants is very soothing. I wish I were an elephant. I would be so composed.”

“One day I told him about the boys of the neighborhood, about their mocking.He said, "That's because they don't understand.""They should understand, I said. I didn't want to cry, but I was crying."If your mother had diabetes, what would they say?""I don't know.""This is like diabetes. She's not well. That's all."Was that what he told himself? That she was not well? That she might get better? I don't know.”