Umesh Deshpande

“For the simple reason, Reid,’ said Mr Burnham patiently, ‘that British rule in India could not be sustained without opium—that is all there is to it, and let us not pretend otherwise. You are no doubt aware that in some years, the Company’s annual gains from opium are almost equal to the entire revenue of your own country, the United States? Do you imagine that British rule would be possible in this impoverished land if it were not for this source of wealth? And if we reflect on the benefits that British rule has conferred upon India, does it not follow that opium is this land’s greatest blessing?”
― Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies

“A man must prepare the way beforehand, so that he may think of God in the hour of death. The way lies through constant practice. If a man practises meditation on God, he will remember God even on the last day of his life.”
― Ramakrishna, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

“We can look at the whole concept of God and spirituality from a vantage point built on logic and physics. Under such an intensive scientific scrutiny, religion always fails. Our knowledge of quantum cosmology is now sufficiently advanced to eliminate the notion of God altogether. The universe is an entirely natural phenomenon, if extraordinarily complex. It was not created by an external act of will.”
― Peter F. Hamilton, The Reality Dysfunction

“What was love if it wasn't nursing someone else's pain as if it were your own?”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World