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Quote by Pankaj Mishra

“Gandhi saw how people have to re-think their own individuality before engaging in political activity. Otherwise they're just playing the game that the adversary has set out.”

Quote by Pankaj Mishra

Author

Pankaj Mishra is an Indian-born British essayist and historian, recognized for his insightful and critical essays on history, politics, and culture. Born in 1969, he has gained attention for his exploration of the complexities of modernity and its effects on the world. more

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“You have to be able to decide, 'Well no, I'm not going to be violent, I'm going to suppress that impulse; I'm not going to be greedy.' Unless you're able to do that you're stuck with adversarial politics that leads nowhere and creates ever greater violence.”

Wells Able Greater Violence Stuck Violent Impulse Greedy

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Most people turn things like elections into a fetish and think it's the only way to go: if we just keep giving people the vote, that'll solve all our problems. In the end, that's just a silly, infantile notion.”

People Ifs Thinking Way Giving Ends Problem Turns Vote Election Notion Solve Silly Fetish Infantile

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Buddhism has always been a religion for people who've worked their way through a cycle of materialism and still feel discontented and want more, or have questions that their state of prosperity is not answering.”

People Way Want Feels Stills States Buddhism Prosperity Cycles Materialism

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Christianity and Islam are concerned with the idea of justice, which can turn into political justice, social justice, economical justice, and so on. Buddhism is not so concerned with the idea of rights. There is more talk of responsibility than of demanding rights.”

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Author:Pankaj Mishra

“We need to infuse politics with ideas like compassion and empathy, and a sense that we live in an interdependent world.”

World Needs Ideas Compassion Empathy Compassion And Empathy

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Politics now is really only about self-interest, which means it has violence built into it because your self-interest is going to collide with the self-interest of the rest of the world. That's inevitable.”

World Mean Self Interest Violence Built Inevitable Self Interest Collide

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“So much of democracy is built on antagonism. It institutionalizes a certain kind of antagonism. This is not to say that we shouldn't have any democracy, but the fact is that democracy has hardened political identities and made them more violent.”

Kind Made Facts Political Certain Democracy Identity Built Violent Democracies Have Hardened Antagonism

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Once you empower people and say,' Here you are, now you get to dream the great dream of becoming a full citizen with equal rights and radical improvement in your living situation,' you are creating an illusion which will break one day.”

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Author:Pankaj Mishra

“To think that land reform is going to somehow automatically create an equitable system, I think that's just wrong. It's a very technical view of the world.”

Thinking World Views Land Reform Equitable

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“In America, you don't even have proper holidays. It's really one of the most prosperous slave societies in history. People work their asses off all year long and get two weeks off! It's incredible.”

People Years Long Two America Week Slave Incredibles Ass Holiday Prosperous Two Weeks

Author:Pankaj Mishra