Arundhati Roy Quotes

Impelled by feelings that were primal yet paradoxically wholly impersonal. Feelings of contempt born of inchoate, unacknowledged fear — civilization's fear of nature, men's fear of women, power's fear of powerlessness. Man's subliminal urge to destroy what he could neither subdue nor deify.

The trouble is that once America goes off to war, it can't very well return without having fought one. If it doesn't find its enemy, for the sake of the enraged folks back home, it will have to manufacture one. Once war begins, it will develop a momentum, a logic and a justification of its own, and we'll lose sight of why it's being fought in the first place.

"They were all there (at the airport) - the deaf ammoomas, the cantankerous, arthritic appoopas, the pining wives, scheming uncles, children with the runs. The fiancées to be reassessed. The teacher's husband still waiting for his Saudi visa. The teacher's husband's sisters waiting for their dowries. The wire-bender's pregnant wife. "Mostly sweeper class," Baby Kochamma said grimly, and looked away while a mother, no wanting to give up her good place near the railing, aimed her distracted baby's penis into an empty bottle while he smiled and waved at the people around him..."

One: An end to cross-ownership in businesses. For example: weapons manufacturers cannot own TV stations, mining corporations cannot run newspapers, business houses cannot fund universities, drug companies cannot control public health funds. Two: Natural resources and essential infrastructure — water supply, electricity, health, and education — cannot be privatized. Three: Everybody must have the right to shelter, education, and health care. Four: The children of the rich cannot inherit their parents’ wealth.

Can the hungry go on a hunger strike? Non-violence is a piece of theatre. You need an audience. What can you do when you have no audience? People have the right to resist annihilation.

People rarely win wars, governments rarely (completely) lose them. People (do completely) get killed.

The word Hijra, she said, meant a Body in which a Holy Soul lives.

The United States supported Saddam Hussein and made sure that he ruled with an iron fist for all those years. Then they used the sanctions to break the back of civil society. Then they made Iraq disarm. Then they attacked Iraq. And now they’ve taken over all its assets. p. 126-127

С не по-малко основание може да се твърди, че всъщност всичко това е започнало преди хиляди години. Дълго преди да дойдат марксистите. Преди британците да презвемат Малабар, преди холандското господство, преди пристигането на Васко да Гама, преди завладяването на Каликут от Заморин. Преди тримата сирийски епископи в пурпурни одежди, убити от португалците, да бъдат намерени в морето с морски змии, завити на кълбо върху гърдите им и със стриди, оплетени в рошавите им бради. Може да се твърди, че всичко е започнало преди християнството да пристигне в една лодка и да се просмуче в Керала като чай от чаена торбичка.
Че в действителност всичко е започнало в дните, когато са били създавани Законите на Любовта. Законите, които повеляват кой трябва да бъде обичан и как.
И колко.

This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.

The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.

When India and Pakistan conducted their nuclear tests in 1998, even those of us who condemned them, balked at the hypocrisy of Western nuclear powers. Implicit in their denunciation of the tests was the notion that Blacks cannot be trusted with the Bomb. Now we are presented with the spectacle of our governments competing to confirm that belief.

– დღის კოშმარი გესიზმრებოდა, – უთხრა რაჰელმა.
– კოშმარი კი არა, სიზმარი იყო, – მიუგო ამუმ.
– ესტას ეგონა, რომ კვდებოდი.
– ისეთი სევდიანი იყავი, რომ...… – თავი იმართლა ესტამ.
– ძალიან ბედნიერი ვიყავი, – თქვა ამუმ და მიხვდა, რომ მართლაც ასე იყო.
– ამუ, როდესაც ადამიანს ბედნიერება ესიზმრება, ეგ ითვლება? – ჰკითხა ესტამ.
– რა ითვლება?
– აი, ეგ სიზმრად ნანახი ბედნიერება.
ამუ მშვენივრად მიხვდა, რას გულისხმობდა მისი ქოჩორწამხდარი ვაჟი.
იმიტომ, რომ სინამდვილეში მხოლოდ ის ითვლება, რაც ჩასათვლელია.
მარტივი, სრულიად მყარი ბავშვური სიბრძნე.
ძილში თუ თევზი ჭამე, ითვლება? იმას ნიშნავს, რომ თევზი მართლაც შეჭამე?
სიზმრის ხალისიანი კაცი, რომელმაც ნაკვალევი არ დატოვა, ითვლებოდა, თუ არ ითვლებოდა?

It's so frightening, the nationalism in the air. I'm terrified by it. It can be used to do anything. I know that a world in which countries are stockpiling nuclear weapons and using them in the ways that India and Pakistan and America do to oppress others and to deceive their own people is a dangerous world.

Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. I know the story of the Kashmiri pandits. I also know that the story that these Panun Kashmir pandits put out is false. However, this does not mean that injustice was not done.
The British drew the map of India in 1899— so that country became a colonizing power the moment it became independent, and the Indian state has militarily intervened in Manipur, in Nagaland, in Mizoram, in Kashmir, in Telangana, during the Naxalbari uprising, in Punjab, in Hyderabad, in Goa, in Junagarh…