“The writer's first affinity is not to a loyalty, a tradition, a morality, a religion, but to life itself, and to its representation in language.”

“I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language. I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians.”

“The traditional statement about language is that it is in itself living, and that writing is the dead part of language.”

“Modern society, the political body, the legal and judiciary system, the state of governance, capitalism and the very fabric of the society itself, including our religions and so-called morals and values, are institutions steeped in traditions of absolute and total violence.”

“Religion decays, the icon remains; a narrative is forgotten, yet its representation still magnetizes.”

“The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.”