The Covenant of Water

by Abraham Verghese

During the war, the British loved telling us how well they treated us compared to how the Japanese would treat us if they invaded. But should any nation rule over another nation? Such things only happen when one group thinks the other is inferior by birth, by skin color, by history. Inferior, and therefore deserving less. My father was no slave. He was beloved here. But he was never your equal so he wasn’t rewarded as one.”

I love this passage, it’s so representative of any oppressor.

One shouldn’t just hope to be treated well: one must insist on it.

“When you are robbed, you quickly become politically conscious. You have nothing to lose but your chains. That’s Marx, by the way, not me.”