Certain ideas overwhelm us by their simplicity. - V. S. Naipaul

Because they could assess themselves, the Europeans were better equipped to cope with changes than we were.

Out of its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate courtesy. Producing too much life, it denied the value of life; yet it permitted a unique human development to so many. Nowhere were people so heightened, rounded and individualistic; nowhere did they offer themselves so fully and with such assurance. To know Indians was to take a delight in people as people; every encounter was an adventure. I did not want India to sink [out of my memory]; the mere thought was painful.

The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.