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Quote by Pankaj Mishra

“Most books germinate within you for a long time before they are ready to come out. I wrote several drafts of the novel over many years and when I finally got to the last one, it didn't take much time.”

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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“Buddhism resonated very powerfully with a lot of my preoccupations.”

Buddhism Very Powerful Preoccupation

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I am a secularist in the Gandhian sense of the word, not the Nehruvian one. Nehru thought religion was an antique superstition which stood in the way of rational modern politics. I side with Gandhi, who wanted religious figures out of politics but also was suspicious of purely rational politics.”

Way Wanted Sides Religious Modern Figures Rational Superstitions Suspicious Antiques Modern Politics Nehru

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“When I first decided to be a writer, that meant dealing with preoccupations and concerns that took little account of Indian traditions. I saw India's past as part of an antiquity rendered irrelevant by modernity, which with its science, nation states, free enterprises, and consumer societies was supposed to have solved all problems.”

Firsts Littles States Problem Past Nations Saws Concern Tradition Decided Accounts India Consumers Indian Enterprise Irrelevant Modernity Antiquity Preoccupation Free Enterprise

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Modernity has created more problems than it is capable of solving. Millions of people are now condemned to wait endlessly for their redemption through modernity.”

People Problem Waiting Millions Capable Redemption Modernity

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I think excessive rationality can be very dangerous. Certainly the kind of rationality we've seen in the last hundred years, and still see on a daily basis when Madeleine Albright says that it's all right, we have to live with the idea of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children dying because it contains Saddam Hussein.”

Thinking Years Kind Children Stills Ideas Lasts Dying Dangerous Hundred Bases Rationality Saddam Hussein Madeleines Children Dying

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Buddhism doesn't really have much time for political mass-movements. We are so trained to think of politics in terms of acting collectively, acting as part of mass-movements, that it's become hard for us to imagine a form of politics that is based on a high degree of introspection and self-examination.”

Thinking Self Hard Form Political Term Acting Imagine Movement Buddhism Degrees Mass Introspection Examination Self-examination

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“There have been many instances of people combining the political life with the spiritual life, a life of constant self-examination. Gandhi was a great example of that.”

People Has Beens Self Spiritual Political Example Constant Instance Spiritual Life Examination Combining Political Life Self-examination

Author: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.”

People Thinking Political Games Saws Activity Individuality Engaging Adversaries

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“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