The Guide

by R.K. Narayan

The essence of sainthood seemed to lie in one’s ability to utter mystifying statements.

He must wash, change his clothes, refresh himself with idli and coffee, and only then can we expect anyone in South India to think clearly on all matters of this world and the next.

a quiet, wooded spot looking over a valley one would think fit for contemplation or poetry, but it only acted as an aphrodisiac.

But he thought that such high and bombastic well-wishing was their habit and idiom and that they were only thanking him for putting enough sense into their heads not to go on with their fight.

My father’s architectural sense had not gone beyond building a single large hall and a kitchen.

For the first time in his life he was making an earnest effort; for the first time he was learning the thrill of full application, outside money and love; for the first time he was doing a thing in which he was not personally interested.

When a huge close-up of a mosquito was shown as the cause of malaria, a peasant was overheard saying, “Such huge mosquitoes! No wonder the people get malaria in those countries. Our own mosquitoes are so tiny that they are harmless,”