I've met the Dalai Lama briefly, but I would probably say my grandfather was the wisest person I ever met. He was my mother's father, an Indian, a family doctor, and very unlike me in that he was deeply religious.
Interpretation
The speaker emphasizes the wisdom of their grandfather over the Dalai Lama, highlighting the personal connection and respect for family wisdom.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie reflects on the profound impact his grandfather had on him, suggesting that wisdom can often be found in familial relationships rather than solely in renowned figures. He contrasts his grandfather's deep religious faith with his own identity, underscoring how personal experiences shape our understanding of wisdom.
In practice
Use this quote during a family gathering to highlight the importance of familial wisdom.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself.
Happy is the man who can endure the highest and lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.
Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.
Follow your instincts. That's where true wisdom manifests itself.
A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.
You can never solve a financial problem with money. The only way for you to have a larger net worth is for you to go within to see why you are going without.
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