Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Quotes

When Arjun asked why man found himself driven to wrongdoing in spite of good intentions, Krishna replied, Because of anger and desire, our two direst enemies. How

Mother? Yudhisthir asked. Haven't our scriptures

Time is the great eraser, both of sorrow and of joy.

Around me celestial flowers are falling in a crystal shower. Or are they the tears of the gods who crowd the skies, looking down in sorrow and admiration at my final act of self-respect?

For isn't that what our homes are ultimately, our fantasies made corporeal, our secret selves exposed? The converse is also true: we grow to become that which we live within.

I liked his voice, rich and unself-conscious even when he forgot words and hummed to fill in the gap. What I didn't understand, I imagined, and thus it became a love song.

In the things we love lie clues to who we are. What we want for those we love.

Is the desire for vengeance stronger than the longing to be loved? What evil magic does it possess to draw the human heart so powerfully to it?

It didn’t drain me as I thought it might. Instead, it invigorated me. Such was love’s magic—the giver gained more than the receiver.

Leela's happiest childhood memories were of aloneness: reading in her room with the door closed, playing chess on the computer, embarking on long bike rides through the city, going to the movies by he...

Sometimes -- she knows this from her own life -- to get to the other side, you must travel through grief. No detours are possible.

We are the keepers of the heart's dusty corners.

What is it in us that carves negative impressions so deeply into our brains?

You did what you were supposed to. Played your part perfectly.

We cannot force ourselves to love—or to withhold it. At best, we can curb our actions. The heart itself is beyond control. That is its power, and its weakness.

And that is why, O King Ram, I must reject your kind offer to allow me to prove my innocence again. Because this is one of those times when a woman must stand up and say, No more!

Because ultimately only the witness -- and not the actors -- knows the truth (Vyasa to Draupadi)

But where love and sorrow bind people together, goodbyes are not so easily said. We were about to discover that.

Distance is a great promoter of harmony:

Good daughters are fortunate lamps, brightening the family's name. Wicked daughters are firebrands, blackening the family's fame.