27 Quotes & Sayings By Anurag Shourie

Anurag Shourie is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer. He was the Union Cabinet Secretary, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Union Minister of Power, Union Minister of Steel and Mines and Governor of Tamil Nadu. He has been appointed as an Independent Member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade Facilitation. Shourie is Founder Director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) at Prasad Ralegaonkar Marg, New Delhi. As a cultural activist, Shourie is known to be an ardent supporter of public arts education and artistic freedom in India Read more

He serves on the boards of numerous cultural organizations including Gandhi Smriti Samiti, Prithvi Theatre Foundation, Jana Natya Manch, Aarohan Kala Kendra, The Institute for Studies in Society and Culture (ISSAC), India Habitat Centre, Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), National Mission for Manuscripts (NIM), International Centre for The Study of Developing Societies (ICTSD) and e-Governance Foundation. He has been associated with various national committees for debate about policy issues in various fields. Shourie has authored thirty books including "The Congress And Its Leaders", "The Giant Among Men", "Lokpal And Lokayuktas", "The Minority Mind Revisited", "Delhi And The National Capital" and "A Matter Of Honour".

But that’s the way life is; felicity and expiation play...
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But that’s the way life is; felicity and expiation play together in the narrow lanes of life like bosom friends, inseparable. You find one, and the other is always around the corner. Anurag Shourie
Dharma is not about believing in God. It’s about making...
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Dharma is not about believing in God. It’s about making the right choices, doing the right things and leading the right life. Anurag Shourie
The best-laid plans can fail for the lack of proper...
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The best-laid plans can fail for the lack of proper execution. Anurag Shourie
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Everyone in this world is Abhimanyu, the difference being that most of us are trapped in a labyrinth of our own creation. It takes a lifetime for people to realise that the way out lies in their own hands. All it requires is a little introspection. Anurag Shourie
Take it easy. Live life- one day at a time....
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Take it easy. Live life- one day at a time. It is only when we add the regrets of 'yesterday' and worries of the 'future' to the 'present' that we end up complicating things... Anurag Shourie
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Be it a 'slide' in a children’s park, or one in the play-fields of life; the mantra is same. “You climb up and you slide down.” What is missing in the later years is the enthusiasm with which the kids run up the steps, knowing fully well that another down-slide is imminent. Life is a game; play it with gay abundance. Take a leaf out of the kid’s rule-book… Anurag Shourie
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There is nothing more agonising than the memory of good times when you are going through a difficult period in life. Life moves in only one direction - forward, but the memoirs of years gone by keep on haunting one’s soul till the time one is alive. Nostalgia can be more painful than a surgeon’s knife. Anurag Shourie
Tears can ruin the handiwork of the best beautician.
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Tears can ruin the handiwork of the best beautician. Anurag Shourie
Destiny plays its cards in a way that no one...
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Destiny plays its cards in a way that no one can comprehend. Anurag Shourie
For me, every book is an individual with its own...
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For me, every book is an individual with its own identity and has to be nurtured and taken care of, so that it may survive for a longer period. Anurag Shourie
There is a very thin line of demarcation dividing true...
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There is a very thin line of demarcation dividing true love from unadulterated lust. What is love without the pleasures of the flesh and what is lust sans a fluttering heart? Anurag Shourie
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Love is just like God. Some believe in it, some don’t. You can only feel love and that too if you are open to its existence. Likewise, an atheist cannot feel the presence of the divine because his mind is shut to the possibility of there being one. Anurag Shourie
We use the word ‘LOVE’ for camouflaging so many of...
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We use the word ‘LOVE’ for camouflaging so many of our emotions. Why can’t we use different words to convey different feelings? Why use a word when we don’t sincerely mean it? Anurag Shourie
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Every war has its martyrs – the unsung heroes who sometimes don’t even know the rationale behind the war they are fighting. They fight because they are trained to, kill because they are told to and die because they are destined to. Anurag Shourie
It’s a strange feeling when you realise that you have...
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It’s a strange feeling when you realise that you have become a passive bystander, watching the quirks of your own fate with an icy indifference. Anurag Shourie
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Nostalgia can be more painful than a surgeon's knife. Anurag Shourie
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The pain of an unpublished manuscript is akin to the trauma of bearing an unborn. Anurag Shourie
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An idle mind is a devil’s workshop and I am prone to renting out my mind to the first bidder. Anurag Shourie
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There is a very thin line of demarcation between bravery and foolhardiness. Anurag Shourie
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A half-truth is even more dangerous than a lie. A lie, you can detect at some stage, but half a truth is sure to mislead you for long. Anurag Shourie
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The time is ripe for young Indian authors writing in the English language. Anurag Shourie
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Not very tall, not very dark but very...very handsome, ’ was his way of describing himself. Anurag Shourie
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Enough of medical ethics. Let Uncle Hippocrates rest in peace. It’s time to send an S.O.S to Uncle Omar Khayyam instead. Anurag Shourie
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Death is the only certainty in life. The moment we are born, our journey towards our final destination begins. It’s the beauty or the ugliness of that journey that defines our life; the distances covered varying in each case. Every flower that has bloomed in the free breeze of spring has to wither in the cruel icy autumn draught. Anurag Shourie
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Marcus Brutus was the original tragic hero of the play ‘Julius Caesar’, Aditya concluded. Perhaps, Shakespeare should have named his play ‘Marcus Brutus’. But then again, it all must have boiled down to saleability and marketing; Julius Caesar being the more famous and thus bankable name. Ironical it was, Aditya smiled. The same Shakespeare had once said-‘ What’s in a name... Anurag Shourie
26
Being a doctor, you are not supposed to give vent to any signs of revulsion on encountering the most noxious of odours or the most gruesome of sights. Anurag Shourie