“The idea that modernisation makes for enhanced national power and rapi...” — Pankaj Mishra Quote

“The idea that modernisation makes for enhanced national power and rapid progress and helps everyone achieve greater happiness has its origins in the astonishing political, economic and military successes of western Europe in the 19th century.”

“If your writing collides with the conventional wisdom, there's going to be some kind of friction.”

“In a typically contradictory move, globalisation, while promoting economic integration among elites, has exacerbated sectarianism everywhere else.”

“The Korean War, which China entered on the side of North Korea, fixed Mao's image in the United States as another unappeasable Communist.”

“An enlarged global public society, with its many dissenting and corrective voices, can quickly call the bluff of lavishly credentialled and smug intellectual elites.”

“I started out as a novelist and wrote several novels before deciding to publish one, and I fully intend to go back to the form.”

“Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.”

“Love and work are to people what water and sunshine are to plants.”

“Our spiritual essence is not something foreign we must acquire—it is already within us, waiting to be revealed. As our parts relax, gain trust and feel secure and safe enough to step back, Self naturally emerges. We don't need to arduously develop Self-leadership; it arises spontaneously as our inner world becomes more balanced and harmonious. In this way, we embody the essence of our divine nature without effort.”

“The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings. The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.”

“The groundwork of all happiness is health.”