Sharmilee Patel

“Speak softly, sir. The regime has ears on all sides.'
'There's an old saying that the regime is deaf.'
'It's deaf only when we speak about our problems. When we talk about the regime, its ears are quite sharp.”
― Perumal Murugan, Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat

“You began what you described as your accomplished solitude from that day. This term—accomplished solitude—struck me deeply. And it slowly began to dawn on you that you did not need people around you when you were painting or reading, when you were watching a film with deep concentration, or when you sat down to eat, chewing every mouthful and savouring every flavour. You made loneliness easy on yourself.”
― Sachin Kundalkar, Cobalt Blue

“I hate to undermine the worth of talent. Unquestionably, talent exists. It’s no myth or hokum. Your talent tells you that you’re cut out for something. It points you towards what you can do effortlessly and what your potential career could be. However, talent isn’t everything. Knowledge and growth don’t come easily. You have to be willing to put in the hours and the effort, sometimes even without visible progress, because one day, unexpectedly, the results will flower. But without that work, it’s unlikely to happen. Eventually, hard work is not just about plugging away at something. It’s thinking intelligently about what you want to achieve, the goals you’re setting yourself, how you’re improving and how you can incorporate all of this into the list of things that will help you scale that peak.”
― Viswanathan Anand, Mind Master: Winning Lessons From A Champion's Life

“Everyone was well versed in how they were expected to behave towards the regime. They had mouths only to keep shut, hands only to make obeisance, knees only to bend and kneel, backs only to bend, and bodies only to shrink before the authorities.”
― Perumal Murugan, Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat