Shantaram

by Gregory David Roberts

‘You know, I said that once, to a friend of mine, and he told me that the real trick in life is to want nothing, and to succeed in getting it.’

I think wisdom is very over-rated. Wisdom is just cleverness, with all the guts kicked out of it.

Now, long years and many journeys after that first ride on a crowded rural train, I know that the scrambled fighting and courteous deference were both expressions of the one philosophy: the doctrine of necessity.

Remember this

The contours of all our virtues are shaped by adversity.

Remember this

One of the ironies of courage, and the reason why we prize it so highly, is that we find it easier to be brave for someone else than we do for ourselves alone.