First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first.

The individual soul touches upon the world soul like a well reaches for the water table. That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression, is the same thing. The finite within the infinite, the infinite within the finite.

I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.

India is a place where all stories are possible. You forget that the imagination can take hold of anything and contemplate it and love it and describe it.

Don’t you bully me with your politeness!

science can only take you so far and then you have to leap

And what of my extended family-birds, beasts, and reptiles? They too have drowned. Every single thing I value in life has been destroyed. And I am allowed no explanation? I am to suffer hell without any account from heaven? In that case, what is the purpose of reason, Richard Parker? Is it no more than to shine at practicalities-the getting of food, clothing and shelter? Why can't reason give greater answers? Why can we throw a question further than we can pull in an answer? Why such a vast net if there's so little fish to catch? (pg. 98)