Asura Quotes

“The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Most humble men are either hypocrites or have much to be humble about. Success breeds pride and vanity. And pride is the only reward of success.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Some of the drops of water fell onto my skin and by impulse was to smell the water. It stank. My neighbour whispered in my ear, “It’s cow’s urine and gobar. They use it for purification.” We, the untouchables, were purified with bullshit.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I had lived as Ravana and I would die as Ravana. I did not intend to become Rama, the perfect man and God. There was no dearth of gods in my country. It only lacked men.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“a life without ambition was a life worth living.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Intelligence is just a tool to serve our emotions and I want to live as God intended man to live.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I am no atheist. I strongly believe in God and am always willing to pray for my material and spiritual progress. But for me, God is a very personal thing and prayer needs to be spoken silently in my heart.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Anger is the lowest emotion. It clouds the intellect and can make you do foolish things. You become blind to reason and react only with your body, without thinking. This leads to failure in every sphere. Uproot this evil from your system.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Success breeds pride and vanity. And pride is the only reward of success.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“A defeated race often uses its cultural supremacy to cover the shame of defeat.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Fear is not an emotion, it is a disease. It spreads from the leader to his followers and vice–versa. Nothing has killed more men in war than fear. What should a warrior fear? Death? But death is what everyone achieves ultimately. Is it wounds that you fear? What is more important? A pint of your blood or the nectar of victory? Think. Thinking will clear such doubts.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Happiness and sadness are just two eternal truths like day and night. A man of superior intellect is never affected by these emotions. They are not base emotions at all but a reflection of our thoughts, a reaction to our perspective on things we see, hear and do. Equanimity is not only desirable in a warrior, but a must. Without it, you are as good as dead in the battlefield.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Love makes you weak. Love has unseen bondages that take you into the abyss of failure at that crucial moment when victory and failure get balanced. Beware of love.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Our dharma was based on simple things: a man should be true to his word; he should speak from his heart and shouldn’t do anything he considered wrong. One should not cheat even if one was sure to fail. One should honour women and not insult anyone. If there was injustice, we had to fight it at all costs.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“worldly-wise people have said so, to get along in the world you had to be practical and satisfied with what your measly life offers. But I was a dreamer. And I did not want to just get along in this world. I wanted to own it.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I wanted to start again. I wanted to make the same mistakes, love the
same people, fight the same enemies, befriend the same friends, marry the
same wives and sire the same sons. I wanted to live the same life again.
13I didn’t want the seat Rama has reserved for me in his heaven. I only
wanted my beautiful earth.
I knew such things were not going to happen. I was sixty, not sixteen. If I
lived, I would be a one-eyed, dirty, old beggar in some wayside temple,
with stinking, tattered clothes. A long way from what I once was. I wanted
to die now. I wanted this to end. I wanted to go away. Let the burning cities
take care of themselves. Let the Asuras fight their own wars and be
damned along with the Devas. I only wanted to return to my childhood
and start over again, every single damn thing, again and again and again…”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished, The Story of Ravana and His People

“It could have been due to my inborn leadership qualities that this stealing of a subordinate’s idea and claiming credit for it, came easily to me.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Jealousy is the driving force of progress, envy is the motivating force of life.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Ten kings met once a year to decide about water sharing, fixing customs, excise, and toll rates, port levies, and to exchange musicians and artisans. An”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“It is always when everything appears dream-like and life seems to possess a never-ending charm, that foolish thoughts and dangerous aspirations take birth in the minds of humans.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I think it was the size of the dream and the willingness to act on it. Ravana dreamt big and strove ruthlessly to achieve it.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“That is a good piece of propaganda, I must admit. Claim that God is with you, or better, you are God, then anything you do, any adharma you commit, becomes divine play.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“was shocked to learn that many common Asuras had also begun to believe in Rama’s divinity. Making your wife suffer exile in the forest, killing a friendly king through deceit, sending terrorist to cities and annihilating innocent men, women and children…were these the marks of divinity?”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Every death is a temporary pause in the symphony called life.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Our dharma was based on simple things: a man should be true to his word; he should speak from his heart and shouldn’t do anything he considered wrong. One should not cheat even if one was sure to fail. One should honour women and not insult anyone. If there was injustice, we had to fight it at all costs. We never knew any of the great teachings of the ancient Asura or Deva saints. We followed no tradition. We were almost bastards.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“But I was a dreamer. And I did not want to just get along in this world. I wanted to own it. Why were our people so meek and humble? That was something I always wondered about. Why were only a few able to control the power and wealth while the rest obliged them, and even laid down their lives to help this small selfish gang oppress them and their children?”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I think it was the size of the dream and the willingness to act on it.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“I believe there is a world out there to conquer. A better world awaiting us.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“if the doings of the victor could not be justified by the prevailing moral codes of society, he would be elevated to godhood, for who could question a God?”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished

“Nothing is more condemnable than selfishness. A man who thinks of himself alone is the most unlucky person of all.”
― Anand Neelakantan, Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished