Chitra Divakaruni > Chitra's Quotes

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#1

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
― William Durant

tags: knowledge-habit-inspirational

1231 likes

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#2

“Having lots of money while not having inner peace is like dying of thirst while bathing in the ocean.”
― Yogananda Paramahamsa

tags: inspirational, life-and-living

70 likes

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#3

“If you're feeling helpless, help someone. ”
― Aung San Suu Kyi

163 likes

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#4

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”
― Atwood H. Townsend

tags: reading, study, willful-ignorance

1234 likes

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#5

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

tags: bibliotherapy, books, escape, good-habits, life, pleasure, reading, refuge

2255 likes

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#6

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
― Mark Twain

tags: aliteracy, attributed-no-source, literacy

40999 likes

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#7

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
― René Descartes

tags: literature, reading, words

1024 likes

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#8

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
― Robert Frost

tags: reading, writing

6804 likes

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#9

“In the white marble hall of the hotel, I'm waltzing with Rajat. The music is a river and we're dancing in it. It winds against our bodies, muscular as a serpent.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

tags: family-drama, family-relationships, immigration, indian-fiction, literary-fiction, mystery

1 likes

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#10

“In the temple, I sit on the cool floor next to Grandfather, beneath the stern benevolence of the goddess's glance. Grandfather is clad in only a traditional silk dhoti--no fancy modern clothes for him. That's one of the things I admire about him, how he is always unapologetically, uncompromisingly himself. His spine is erect and impatient; white hairs blaze across his chest.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

tags: family-relationships, india, literary-fiction, mystery, novel, suspense

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#11

“Asif Ali maneuvers the gleaming Mercedes down the labyrinthine lanes of Old Kolkata with consummate skill, but his passengers do not notice how smoothly he avoids potholes, cows and beggars, how skilfully he sails through aging yellow lights to get the Bose family to their destination on time. This disappoints Asif only a little. In his six years of chauffeuring the rich and callous, he has realized that, to them, servants are invisible.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

tags: drama, family-relationships, immigrant-experience, india, literary-fiction, suspense, usa

1 likes

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#12

“It feels as though it were just yesterday Grandfather exited my life like a bullet, leaving a bleeding hole behind.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

tags: 9-11, drama, family-relationships, immigration, india, literary-fiction, suspense

3 likes

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#13

“Push away the past, that vessel in which all emotions curdle to regret.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: divakaruni, fiction, immigrant-experience, indian-authors, mothers-and-daughters, novel, wisdom-quotes

6 likes

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#14

“She lifts her eyes, and there is Death in the corner, but not like a king with his iron crown, as the epics claimed. Why, it is a giant brush loaded with white paint. It descends upon her with gentle suddenness, obliterating the shape of the world.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: fiction, immigrant-fiction, india, indian, indian-american, mothers-and-daughters, novel

3 likes

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#15

“But inside loss there can be gain, too,like the small silver spider Bela had discovered one dewy morning, curled asleep at the center of a rose.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: before-visit-the-goddess, child-narrator, divakaruni, fiction, immigrant-fiction, india, indian-american, mothers-and-daughters, novel, women-s-fiction

2 likes

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#16

“Ebb and flow, ebb and flow, our lives. Is that why we're fascinated by the steadfastness of stars? The water reaches my calves. I begin the story of the Pleiades, women transformed into birds so Swift and bright that no man could snare them.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: book-club-fiction, divakaruni, fiction, immigrant-experience, indian-american, indian-authors, mothers-and-daughters, novel, women-s-fiction

5 likes

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#17

“Bela had thought she knew what love felt like, but when she saw Sanjay at the airport after six long months, her heart gave a great, hurtful lurch, as though it were trying to leap out of her body to meet him. This, she thought. This is it. But it was only part of the truth. She would learn over the next years that love can feel a lot of different ways, and sometimes it can hurt a lot more.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: book-club-fiction, divakaruni, immigrant-experience, india, indian-american, indian-fiction, mothers-and-daughters, novel

3 likes

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#18

“I don't put much stock in remembering things. Being able to forget is a superior skill.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: before-we-visit-the-goddess, divakaruni, fiction, houston, immigrant-fiction, indian, indian-american, mothers-and-daughters, novel

10 likes

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#19

“Would you like to come in?" I said. My hands were sweaty. Inside my chest an ocean heaved and crashed and heaved again.
"I would," he said. I saw his Adam's apple jerk as he swallowed. "Thank you."
I was distracted by that thank you. We had moved past the language of formality long ago. It was strange to relearn it with each other.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: book-club-books, divakaruni, fiction, immigrant-experience, immigrant-fiction, indian, indian-authors, love-mothers-and-daughters, mothers-and-daughters, novel, women-s-fiction

0 likes

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#20

“What is the nature of life?
Life is lines of dominoes falling.
One thing leads to another, and then another, just like you'd planned. But suddenly a Domino gets skewed, events change direction, people dig in their heels, and you're faced with a situation that you didn't see coming, you who thought you were so clever.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: book-clubs, divakaruni, fiction, immigrant-fiction, indian-american, love, mothers-and-daughters, novel, relationships, women-s-books

6 likes

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#21

“My mother clutches at the collar of my shirt. I rub her back and feel her tears on my neck. It's been decades since our bodies have been this close. It's an odd sensation, like a torn ligament knitting itself back, lumpy and imperfect, usable as long as we know not to push it too hard.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

tags: contemporary-fiction, divakaruni, immigrant-experience, india, indian-american, love, mothers-and-daughters, novel, novel-in-stories, women-s-books

3 likes

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Tags From Chitra’s Quotes

knowledge-habit-inspirational
inspirational
life-and-living
reading
study
willful-ignorance
bibliotherapy
books
escape
good-habits
life
pleasure
refuge
aliteracy
attributed-no-source
literacy
literature
words
writing
family-drama
family-relationships
immigration
indian-fiction
literary-fiction
mystery
india
novel
suspense
drama
immigrant-experience
usa
9-11
divakaruni
fiction
indian-authors
mothers-and-daughters
wisdom-quotes
immigrant-fiction
indian
indian-american
before-visit-the-goddess
child-narrator
women-s-fiction
book-club-fiction
before-we-visit-the-goddess
houston
book-club-books
love-mothers-and-daughters
book-clubs
love
relationships
women-s-books
contemporary-fiction
novel-in-stories