Meenal Mistry Quotes

Turning the improbable into the exceptional ~ Ranjan Mistry

But how firm to stand, how much to bend? Where was the line between compassion and foolishness, kindness and weakness? And that was from her position. From theirs, it might be a line between mercy and cruelty, consideration and callousness. She could draw it on this side, but they might see it on that side. ~ Rohinton Mistry

When a culture vanishes, humanity is the loser. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Hahnji, mister, you must be patient. Before you can name that corner, our future must become past. ~ Rohinton Mistry

What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you every day would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret: remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and the ugly out of your living time. ~ Rohinton Mistry

What notion did you have of Canada when you came?" Mistry smile delicately, the face behind the trimmed beard and glasses like that of a student. "I thought it would complete me. ~ Noah Richler

Soon the evening gloom would materialize, infect the fibre-filled air, drape itself over her bed, depress her from now till morning. ~ Rohinton Mistry

All fiction relies on the real world in the sense that we all take in the world through our five senses and we accumulate details, consciously or subconsciously. This accumulation of detail can be drawn on when you write fiction. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Time had changed the magical to mundane ~ Rohinton Mistry

World can be a bewildering place,and dreams and ambitions are often paths to the most pernicious of traps ~ Rohinton Mistry

A lifetime had to be crafted, just like anything else, she thought, it had to be moulded and beaten and burnished in order to get the most out of it. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Multilate. Ha Ha Ha,' said Nusswan, avuncular and willing to pretend it was a clever joke. 'Its all relative. At the best of times, democracy is a see saw between complete chaos and tolerable confusion. You see, to make a democratic omelette you have to break a few democratic eggs. To fight fascism and other evil forces threatening our country, there is nothing wrong in taking strong measures. Especially when the foreign hand is always interfering to destabilize us. Did you know the CIA is trying to sabotage the Family Planning Programme? ~ Rohinton Mistry

life is a mistry. every time you live, you will see your life as like a mirror with out any destination & hopes ~ Divine

Deeply moved, she poured the tea while they were finishing up. They came into the kitchen to replace the cleaning things, and she handed two cups to Om.
Noticing the red rose borders, he started to point out her error, "The pink one's for us," then stopped. Her face told him she was aware of it.
"What?" she asked, taking the pink cup for herself, "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing," his voice caught . He turned away, hoping she did not see the film of water glaze his eyes. ~ Rohinton Mistry

At the best of times, democracy is a seesaw between complete chaos and tolerable confusion. You see, to make a democratic omelette you have to break a few democratic eggs. To fight fascism and other evil forces threatening our country, there is nothing wrong in taking strong measures. ~ Rohinton Mistry

If time were a bolt of cloth," said Om, "I would cut out all the bad parts. Snip out the scary nights and stitch together the good parts, to make time bearable. Then I could wear it like a coat, always live happily. ~ Rohinton Mistry

How else do people find happiness except in fulfilling their duty?"
There can be no happiness without fairness," she said. "Remember that, Om - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ~ Rohinton Mistry

The return of solitude was not quite as Dina expected it to be. These many years I made a virtue of inescapable reality, she thought, calling it peace and quiet. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Flirting with madness was one thing; when madness started flirting back, it was time to call the whole thing off. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Curious, he thought, how, if you knew a person long enough, he could elicit every kind of emotion from you, every possible reaction, envy, admiration, pity, irritation, fury, fondness, jealousy, love, disgust. But in the end all human beings became candidates for compassion, all of us, without exception ... and if we could recognize this from the beginning, what a saving in pain and grief and misery. ~ Rohinton Mistry

The whole quilt is much more important than any single square. ~ Rohinton Mistry

The lives of the poor are rich in symbols. ~ Rohinton Mistry

If you ignore little things, they become big problems. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Narayan explained how they had spent the morning, and Dukhi laughed to hear it. the entire episode made Radha furious. "Why must you torment the boy? There is no need to make my Om do such dirty work." ... "How will he appreciate what he has if he does not learn what his forefathers did? Once a week he will come with me! Whether he likes it or not! ~ Rohinton Mistry

Where was the line between compassion and foolishness, kindness and weakness? And that was from her position. From theirs, it might be a line between mercy and cruelty, consideration and callousness. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Now he felt the despair his father had felt as the familiar world slipped from around him, the valleys gashed and ugly, the woods disappearing. Daddy was right, he thought, the hills were dying, and I was so stupid to believe the hills were eternal, that a father could stay forever young. If only I had talked to him. If only he had let me get close to him. ~ Rohinton Mistry

...I always took the rearmost seat in the classroom - it gave me a good view of things. And I must confess, the location taught me more about human nature and justice than could be learned from the professors' lectures. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Haunted by the unhappiness that appeared like an ugly creature to live in their home ~ Rohinton Mistry

Lately you are brooding too much about rights. Give up this dangerous habit. ~ Rohinton Mistry

What an unreliable thing is time
when I want it to fly, the hours stick to me like glue. And what a changeable thing, too. Time is the twine to tie our lives into parcels of years and months. Or a rubber band stretched to suit our fancy. Time can be the pretty ribbon in a little girl's hair. Or the lines in your face, stealing your youthful colour and your hair ... But in the end, time is a noose around the neck, strangling slowly. ~ Rohinton Mistry

He spent long hours meditating on the wisdom of loving living things which invariably ended up dead. ~ Rohinton Mistry

He looked at me with a smile that I still remember and ran a finger along his impeccably trimmed mustache. Cricket is about a lot more than playing by the rules, Mistry. It's a gentleman's game. Don't you ever forget that. ~ Ken Doyle

I've done lots of jobs. Right now, I'm a hair collector."

"That's good", said Ishvar tentatively. "What do you have to do as a hair-collector?"

"Collect hair."

"And there is money in that?"

"Oh very big business. There is a great demand for hair in foreign countries."

"What do they do with it? Asked Om skeptical."

"Many different things. Mostly they wear it.Sometimes they paint it in different colors-red, yellow, brown, blue. Foreign women enjoy wearing other people's hair. Men also, especially if they are bald.
In foreign countries they fear baldness. They are so rich in foreign countries, they can afford to fear all kinds of silly things. ~ Rohinton Mistry

I almost forgot to tell you - you have the right to remain silent, but if you do, my boys at the station will process your bones to help you confess. ~ Rohinton Mistry

There is no surer road to perdition than the ledger glands dictate your direction. ~ Lois Greiman

The future was becoming past, everything vanished into the void, and reaching back to grasp for something, one came out clutching - what? A bit of string, scraps of cloth, shadows of the golden time. If one could only reverse it, turn the past into future, and catch it on the wing, on its journey across the always shifting line of the present ... ~ Rohinton Mistry

But so far, the invisible line was holding, separating the potential from its realization. Strange, that invisible lines could be so powerful, thought Maneck
strong as brick walls. ~ Rohinton Mistry

Oh, Anyone can make a quilt,' she said modestly. 'It's just scraps, from the clothes you've sewn.'
'Yes, but the talent is in joining the pieces, the way you have.'
'Look,' Om pointed, 'look at that - the poplin from our very first job.'
'You remember,' said Dina, pleased. 'And how fast you finished those first dresses. I thought I had two geniuses.'
'Hungry stomachs were driving our fingers,' chuckled Ishvar.
'Then came that yellow calico with orange strips. And what a hard time this young fellow gave me. Fighting and arguing about everything.'
'Me?Argue?Never.'
...
He steeped back, pleased with himself, as though he had elucidated an intricate theorem. 'So that's the rule to remember, the whole quilt is much more important than the square'. ~ Rohinton Mistry