Ashwin Sanghi Quotes

Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career, Michael Schwalbe of Stanford University explains why fear gets in the way of luck.

Your own luck depends on other people's luck. It's crazy!

The kindest word in the world is the unkind word left unsaid.

'Rozabal' was theological while 'Chanakya' is political. Unlike 'Rozabal,' which was about research, the aim of 'Chanakya' is plot, plot, plot, which carries the character. The common DNA, of course, is history.

There is a method to the madness of James Patterson's success. Co-writing with him is a terrific learning experience, particularly in the art of crafting a perfect thriller. The collaboration also gives me an opportunity to access a wider global audience.

I believe that every writer evolves with every successive novel. I view myself as work-in-progress.

Shooting and stabbing of victims seemed almost humane when one considered the ghastly catalogue of other horrors that had been perpetrated.

The first paragraph of my book must get me my reader. The last paragraph of a chapter must compel my reader to turn the page. The last paragraph of my book must ensure that my reader looks out for my next book.

What is divine? Simply that which man has not yet been able to understand. Once understood, it ceases to be divine.

Mythology is a set of primitive lies that people rarely believe. This is rather different from history, which is a set of lies that people actually believe.

Winning is not only about strengthening yourself; it's also about weakening the enemy.

A community that engages readers and culturally enabled people to connect, support and harness intellectual and cultural capabilities.

While I can't walk on water, I can certainly wobble on whisky.

good lawyers know the law and that great lawyers know the judge?

Our country has the oldest tradition of storytelling, and this was much before writing stories even became a norm.

Comedian Milton Berle once said, 'If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door!' In

The lesson for today, dear Rakshas , is between two evils you should pick the one that you haven't yet tried.

a conjurer will offer you alternatives to choose from but you always end up picking the one that he wants you to!

One should never let sleeping dogs lie.

Man's way leads to a hopeless end but God's way leads to endless hope,

Man has free will and creates his destiny based upon his actions.

luck is not entirely about chance; it's about the human ability to spot opportunities and make the most out of them.

In the Sanghi family, there is no one who has undertaken intellectual pursuits.

Surprise is when a prime minister is assassinated during his speech. Suspense is when an assassin lurks while the prime minister speaks. Balancing surprise and suspense is the job of the thriller writer.

People think that strength is about lifting weights in the gym. It's more about getting up when you're knocked down by life.

Humankind would improve if we concentrated less on being human and more on being kind.

I have always been a bit of an introvert. In fact, my dad used to force me to meet people so that my interpersonal skills improve. As an individual, I was happiest when left alone.

What if life's opportunities are like rainfall, and we human beings are like houses? What if some of us have the ability to 'catch' opportunities as they fall, but others do not have the required 'infrastructure' to trap opportunities?

Happiness is the only thing that when you give it, you get it in return.

The first thriller ever? It was probably one from 1697. It was called 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

What I would not like is to be ignored. I write from the heart. I don't write for me. I write for my readers.

There's nothing glorious about dying - anyone can do it.

between two evils you should always pick the one that you haven't yet tried. I

It is easy to club people together, but there are bound to be influences of authors you've read. I grew up reading fast paced authors such as Sidney Sheldon and Jeffrey Archer, but to say I'm one of them isn't true; my style is intrinsically my own.

Omniscient, omnipotent, omnivorous and omnipresent all begin with Om.

I was always taught that book keeping was more relevant than book reading. The only thing worth reading was meant to be a balance sheet.

The average human attention span was 12 seconds in 2000 and 8 seconds in 2013. A drop of 33%. The scary part is that the attention span of a goldfish was 9 seconds, almost 13% more than us humans. That's why it's getting tougher by the day to get people to turn the page. Maybe we writers ought to try writing for goldfish!

I work in a business environment forty hours a week, and writing is what I do to unwind. It allows me to transport myself to a happy place where I can indulge my hopes, beliefs, aspirations and fantasies. It also allows me to live and breathe a topic for eighteen months while I'm researching and writing.

And I often tell friends: "When you don't know what to do, do nothing. Get quiet so you can hear the still, small voice, your inner GPS guiding you to true North.

I am a businessman at the end of the day. I have grown up with Excel sheets. I start out writing my novel with spreadsheets and the milestones in each chapter highlighted.

Politics is like a stage. Each politician plays his part according to the lines that are given to him. But backstage, the hero and the villain enjoy their drink together. Everybody

Rule number one: your accounts must always present a true and factual picture of your business operations.' 'And what's the other rule?' asked Arvind. 'Rule number two is to occasionally forget rule number one.

What I have found is that, in a family business structure, sometimes what is needed is a sense of discipline rather than creativity. You have to take everyone's ideas and make it work. When you are dealing with money, there is a limitation on how creative you can be.

If a man tells a woman she's beautiful, she'll overlook most of his other lies!

I want my writing to reach people. I don't write for a market. I write from my heart, something that appeals to me. The marketing, segmenting etc., can be done by your publisher, not you.

Albert Einstein, said, 'The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

Acharya, is war the only solution to political differences?' 'Wise pupil, politics is war without bloodshed and war is simply politics with bloodshed.

Initial work is on period research where the historical markers are absolutely non-negotiable. Once that is established, a writer can take creative liberties in terms of chronology to suit the story.

The average buyer in bookshop spends 8 seconds on the front cover and 15 seconds on the back cover before deciding whether to purchase the book or not. On average, he does not get past page 18. See? The odds are stacked against us writers!

Mythopoeia has taken off in the Indian diaspora because there has been a change in readership from a mature audience to a younger one. This lot has a desperate yearning to reconnect. They want to consume mythology but in a well-packaged and easily digestible way.

The cleanest book on a dusty bookshelf is usually a dirty one.

TV actress Lucille Ball once remarked, 'I'd rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I've not done.' This

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in life.

An author entices the readers with their words, and it is painful for them to even lose a sentence. But films and books are two different mediums and should be dealt differently. What works in a book might not work for a film. When I saw 'Anna Karenina' on screen, I didn't like it at all, whereas 'The Godfather' was legendary.

I've always been fascinated by books. When I was young, my grandfather used to hand out a book - which would be anything from a biography to a classic - to me every week and ask me to write a piece on what I thought about it. On the other hand, my mother used to love reading thrillers and bestsellers.

It may sound very strange, but I love the freedom that writing a novel gives me. It is an unhindered experience. If I come after a bad day, I can decide that my protagonist will die on page 100 of my novel in a 350-page story.

Birds don't build nests on fruitless trees, whores have no love for poor men, and citizens don't obey a powerless king!

Those who are doggedly attached to the idea they began with may well execute on that idea. And do it well and fast. But along the way, they often miss so many unanticipated possibilities, options, alternatives, and paths that would've taken them away from that linear focus on executing on the vision, and sent them back into a place of creative dissidence and uncertainty, but also very likely yielded something orders of magnitude better.

Entrepreneurs are not risk takers. They are calculated risk takers.

I also suggested that my five cousins establish ground rules in respect of their personal lives, particularly in respect of their marriage to Draupadi. Each brother would have access to Draupadi's bed chamber for one year at a time. This was to prevent disharmony among the five. All the brothers were also allowed to marry other women so that they would have companionship for the four years when Draupadi was inaccessible to them.

Master storytellers like Jeffrey Archer and Arthur Hailey use simple language. But they manage to grab the attention of the readers right from page one. I'll consider myself a good storyteller the day people believe it's OK to be late for work or postpone deadlines just to finish reading my book.

In order to become the master, a ruler must profess to be a servant of the people.

The child is not dead, but is asleep.

Chanakya loved anger. It was a wonderfully energetic emotion and could be used very productively if channelled in the right direction.

The publishing scene in India is evolving rapidly, and the key challenge is to keep reinventing oneself so that one does not become formulaic. Sometimes it is safer to deal with the consequences of failure than the fruits of success. Remaining on one's toes is critical, and often one finds that success makes one complacent.

Mythology does not interest me. Nor does history. But the possible overlap between history and mythology excites me immensely.

The relationship between critic and writer is similar to the one between the pigeon and the statue.

At the end of the day, all humans were merely skull and bones.

A western audience might not appreciate 'Chanakya's Chant' because of its dependence on history and ancient statecraft. My book is a modern-day thriller that draws on a bedrock of history. My primary object is to entertain, not educate.

I am a part of the old school where I feel that purity of the language should be retained. But English is a constantly evolving language where new words are being added to the dictionary, so I don't see any harm in experimenting with the language. Only poor editing standards need to be improved.

If a snake isn't poisonous, all the more reason that it should pretend to be so,

a sermon was meant to be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the essentials and short enough to keep one interested!

There's a significant difference between lying and delaying the truth!

Mythology is like a game of Chinese Whispers. What goes in at one end of the human circle is rarely what emerges at the other end.

So what is the solution to acquiring confidence? It's simple. Conquer fear.

Never interrupt the enemy while he's in the process of making mistake

can hear the still, small voice, your

To many he was known as Kautilya - the crooked one; to his childhood acquaintances he was Vishnugupta; but to most he was Chanakya - illustrious son of the great and learned Chanak, the most renowned teacher in all of Magadha. He

It's unfortunate that the concept of Bharat - the common abode and cultural heritage of us Indo-Aryans - has been subjugated by petty rulers and kingdoms. Our scriptures, traditions, culture, prayers, and deities are common. Why is it, then, that we refer to our homes as Magadha, Gandhar, Kashi, Kuru, Kosala, Mallayrajya or Panchala? Why don't we say that we're citizens of Bharat? It's this fundamental divisiveness that will bring about our downfall in the future,' debated Chanakya

When working on a period, it is the finer details that evoke imagery that helps in cinematic adaptations.

O Rakshas, everything is always all right in the end. If it isn't all right, then it isn't the end

Vipassana proponents always stress that if you are insulted by someone and get angry, the result is not the abuser's fault. It is your fault because you choose to react.

We can't deny that films have a bigger reach. After the popularity of the 'Slumdog Millionaire,' a lot of people started reading Vikas Swarup's 'Q & A'. From a business sense, films are a good tool to increase the number of readers.

I don't care if my books don't sell abroad; we have a large enough market in our country. I write for Indian readers.

My greatest qualification for writing fiction was my ability to lie with a straight face as a child.

The Egyptians saw the sun and called him Ra, the Sun God. He rode across the sky in his chariot until it was time to sleep. Copernicus and Galileo proved otherwise, and poor Ra lost his divinity.

Wise men think all they say, fools say all they think.

The Divine is simply that which science has not yet explained. In effect, God = Infinity - Human Knowledge.

When jumbled up, the letters contained in the name Taarak Vakil now spelt out a name that every theologian in India would be familiar with. Kalki avatar - the tenth incarnation of Vishnu.

Battles are won and lost before they are fought.

Our collective energies make miracles happen, not the stone idol.

Lord Rama renounced his kingdom and became the most powerful king in the land. Buddha renounced the world and the world fell at his feet. Cornelia, my innocent girl, please do not believe that renunciation is to forsake power. Rather, it's the very means to power!' Chandragupta

The decision to use a pen name was nothing more than a desire to compartmentalise my life. However, I had not thought about an appropriate pseudonym, and since there's an abundance of anagrams in the novel, the idea struck me: why not use an anagram of my name? Hence, Shawn Haigins.

In effect, 'lucky' people are lucky because they expose themselves to more opportunities by being willing to do new things, meet new people or

Would the fish have ever been caught if it had kept its mouth shut?

Combine two words, Myth and History. What do you get? Mystery.

In India, we never distinguished between history and myth. Our Puranas as well as Itihasas contain fantastical tales. They are lies that convey deeper truths.

Some animals hunt. Others hide. And a few hunt while they hide.

In Kolkata is a temple where the deity worshipped is Amitabh Bachchan. The daily aarti is performed to the chanting of the Amitabh Chaleesa. And people still ask, 'Could our mythological heroes be based on actual people who once lived?'

What should a man strive for? Kama - love, dharma - duty, artha - wealth, and moksha - salvation.