17 Quotes & Sayings By Manu Joseph

Manu Joseph is a professor at the University of Toronto. He has written three collections of short stories, two novels, and a non-fiction book about the evolution of the novel in India. His fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and won several awards including Canada's Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book. His work has been translated into eighteen languages Read more

1
From the comfort of distance, [Non resident Indians and Kashmiris] financially and emotionally support ideologies whose consequence they don’t have to face. They are not just a nuisance. As a collective they are dangerous. When men capable of murder receive the affection of engineers and MBAs, it makes them potentially far more lethal. Manu Joseph
2
No matter what the delusions are, parents do not really know their children Manu Joseph
3
At the heart of memory, is the stillness of time. Manu Joseph
4
Men do things. We can't help it. That's all there is to it. As you will discover in time, the primary choice every man has to make is whether he wants to be himself or if he wants peace. Manu Joseph
5
How unfortunate is the guy who does not live in the extravagant memory of an infatuated young woman. Manu Joseph
6
It is a misfortune to be in the presence of a writer, even a failed writer, to be seen by him, be his passing study and remain in his corrupt memory. It is like the insult of a corpse on the road by a war photographer. Manu Joseph
7
Strong people write bad stories. Manu Joseph
8
The unfortunate are not as miserable as the world imagines. That urchins, the handicapped, orphans, prisoners and others are much happier than people think. And that language is a trap, that a dark evolutionary force has created languages to limit human thought. That writers are overrated fools. That all religions come from ancient comic writers. And the ultimate goal of comics is same as the purpose of humanity — to break free from language. Manu Joseph
9
And all our gods are not lies. They existed. All our gods, from the beginning of time, have been men with psychiatric conditions. And their delusions were so deep, they passed them on. Manu Joseph
10
The distinction between a delusion and a lie is the very difference between a successful saint and a fraud. Manu Joseph
11
The extraordinary triumph of the cellphone among India’s poor stemmed from its ability to enable a most mundane human need, which is to chat with other people. And when the poor chat, it is not always about curing a child of diarrhea. Manu Joseph
12
Scientists want to search for alien signals because that's what gets them publicity. They are like Jesus Christ.""Jesus Christ?" Nambodri asked, with a faintly derogatory chuckle." Yes. They are exactly like Jesus Christ. You know that he turned water into wine."" I've heard that story."" From the point of view of pure chemistry, it is more miraculous to make wine into water than water into wine. But he did not do that. Because if he had gone to someone's house and converted their wine into water, they would have crucified him much earlier. He knew, Jana. He knew making water into wine was a more popular thing to do. Manu Joseph
13
After riding like a moron all over the place, observes the face of an Indian when he crashes. He is stunned. Manu Joseph
14
The Boy will not be a failure. Mythili knows. She has seen the generations before. The boy will make it. As his father has said, he does not have the option of failure. He will crack atleast one entrance exam, and he will one day have a nice house in a suburb of San Francisco, or in a suburb of a suburb of San Francisco.He will find a cute Tamil Brahmin wife and make her produce two sweet children. He will drive a Toyota Corolla to work. And there, in the conference room of his office, he will tell his small team, with his hands stretched wide in a managerial way, ' We must think out of the box . Manu Joseph
15
Ambition is the capacity for unhappiness. Manu Joseph
16
Morality was probably the invention of unattractive men. Whom else does it benefit really Manu Joseph