No one ever indoctrinated me.

Muslim women had to go out in purdah, that heavy sheet that covers even the eyes. Hindu women had to go out in the doli, a kind of closed sedan chair like a catafalque. My mother always told me about these things with bitterness and rage.

All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.

In an underdeveloped society, the first anxiety is of infant mortality. In an advanced one it is to keep alive the aged.

We were to equally strong types [with my husband], equally pigheaded - neither of us wanted to give in. And...I like to think those quarrels made us better, that they enlivened our life, because without them we would have had a normal life, yes, but banal and boring.

You soon realize that the peak you've climbed was one of the lowest, that the mountain was part of a chain of mountains, that there are still so many, so many mountains to climb...And the more you climb, the more you want to climb - even though you're dead tired.

I think one should do what seems right. And if what seems right involves danger...well, one must risk the danger.