Train to Pakistan Quotes

“Not forever does the bulbul sing
In balmy shades of bowers,
Not forever lasts the spring
Nor ever blossom the flowers.
Not forever reigneth joy,
Sets the sun on days of bliss,
Friendships not forever last,
They know not life, who know not this.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“India is constipated with a lot of humbug. Take religion. For the Hindu, it means little besides caste and cow-protection. For the Muslim, circumcision and kosher meat. For the Sikh, long hair and hatred of the Muslim. For the Christian, Hinduism with a sola topee. For the Parsi, fire-worship and feeding vultures. Ethics, which should be the kernel of a religious code, has been carefully removed.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“The last to learn of gossip are the parties concerned”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Morality is a matter of money. Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“We are of the mysterious East. No proof, just faith. No reason, just faith.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“The doer must do only when the receiver is ready to receive. Otherwise, the act is wasted.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Consciousness of the bad is an essential prerequisite to the promotion of the good.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“If you look at things as they are, there does not seem to be a code either of man or of God on which one can pattern one's conduct. Wrong triumphs over right as much as right over wrong. Sometimes its triumphs are greater. What happens ultimately, you do not know. In such circumstances what can you do but cultivate an utter indifference to all values? Nothing matters. Nothing whatever...”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“There is no crime in anyone’s blood any more than there is goodness in the blood of others. Criminals are not born. They are made by hunger, want and injustice.”
― Khuswant Singh, Train To Pakistan

“In a country which had accepted caste distinctions for many centuries, inequality had become an inborn mental concept.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“His mind was like the delicate spring of a watch, which quivers for several hours after it has been touched.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“India is constipated with a lot of humbug. Take modern Indian music of the films. It is all tango & rhumba or samba played on Hawaiian guitars, violins, accordions & clarinets. It is ugly. It must be scrapped like the rest.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis.’ Iqbal”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“To err is human, to forgive divine,”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“India is constipated with a lot of humbug. Take religion. For the Hindu, it means little besides caste and cow-protection. For the Muslim, circumcision and kosher meat. For the Sikh, long hair and hatred of the Muslim. For the Christian, Hinduism with a sola topee. For the Parsi, fire-worship and feeding vultures. Ethics, which should be the kernel of a religious code, has been carefully removed. Take”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Not forever lasts the spring Nor ever blossom flowers. Not forever reigneth joy, Sets the sun on days of bliss, Friendships not forever last, They know not life, who know not this. ‘They know not life, who know not this,”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Not forever reigneth joy, Sets the sun on days of bliss, Friendships not forever last, They know not life, who know not this.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on you cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view. Even if you feel strongly about something, learn to keep silent.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“And all the mumbo-jumbo of reincarnation. Man into ox into ape into beetle into eight million four hundred thousand kinds of animate things. Proof? We do not go in for such pedestrian pastimes as proof! That is Western. We are of the mysterious East. No proof, just faith. No reason, just faith.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“His (Juggut Singh's) equation with authority was simple: he was on the other side. Personalities did not come into it. Subinspectors & policemen were people in khaki who frequently arrested him, always abused him, and sometimes beat him. Since they abused him and beat him without anger or hate, they were not human beings with names. They were only denominations one tried to get the better of. If one failed, it was just bad luck.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Consciousness of the bad is an essential prerequisite to the promotion of the good. It is no use trying to build a second storey on a house whose walls are rotten. It is best to demolish it. It is both cowardly and foolhardy to kowtow to social standards when one believes neither in the society nor in its standards. Their courage is your cowardice, their cowardice your courage. It is all a matter of nomenclature. One could say it needs courage to be a coward. A conundrum, but a quotable one. Make a note of it. And”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Morality, Meet Singhji, is a matter of money. Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“Not forever does the bulbul sing In balmy shades of bowers, Not forever lasts the spring Nor ever blossom flowers. Not forever reigneth joy, Sets the sun on days of bliss, Friendships not forever last, They know not life, who know not this.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“There is no crime in anyone’s blood any more than there is goodness in the blood of others,”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“What do the Gandhi-caps in Delhi know about the Punjab? What is happening on the other side in Pakistan does not matter to them. They have not lost their homes and belongings; they haven’t had their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters raped and murdered in the streets.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“In a country which had accepted caste distinctions for many centuries, inequality had become an inborn mental concept.

In a state of chaos, self-preservation is the supreme duty.”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

“You have seen the world and read many books, but take it from me that a snake can cast its slough but not its poison”
― Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan