Top 80 Rohinton Mistry Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “And the further they go, the more they’ll remember, they can take it from me.”

— Rohinton Mistry

52. “Birth and death – what could be more monstrous than that? We like to deceive ourselves and call it wondrous and beautiful and majestic, but it’s freakish, let’s face it.”

— Rohinton Mistry

53. “Hahnji, mister, you must be patient. Before you can name that corner, our future must become past.”

— Rohinton Mistry

54. “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”

— Rohinton Mistry

55. “Narayan explained how they had spent the morning, and Dukhi laughed to hear it. the entire episode made Radha furious. “Why must you torment the boy? There is no need to make my Om do such dirty work.“... “How will he appreciate what he has if he does not learn what his forefathers did? Once a week he will come with me! Whether he likes it or not!”

— Rohinton Mistry

56. “Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories – your life, my life, old Husain’s life, they’re the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different.”

— Rohinton Mistry

57. “He placed his hand over his heart. “In here, there is limitless room – happiness, kindness, sorrow, anger, friendship – everything fits in here.”

— Rohinton Mistry

58. “The photographs had made him aware how much the street and the buildings meant to him. Like an extended family that he’d taken for granted and ignored, assuming it would always be there. But buildings and roads and spaces were as fragile as human beings, you had to cherish them while you had them.”

— Rohinton Mistry

59. “But since the world is imperfect, we must put blinders on the senses.”

— Rohinton Mistry

60. “Curious, he thought, how, if you knew a person long enough, he could elicit every kind of emotion from you, every possible reaction, envy, admiration, pity, irritation, fury, fondness, jealousy, love, disgust. But in the end all human beings became candidates for compassion, all of us, without exception... and if we could recognize this from the beginning, what a saving in pain and grief and misery.”

— Rohinton Mistry

61. “And, in any case, the idea of independence was a fantasy. Everyone depended on someone.”

— Rohinton Mistry

62. “In foreign countries they fear baldness. They are so rich in foreign countries, they can afford to fear all kinds of silly things.”

— Rohinton Mistry

63. “Rangarajan, your other patients are waiting. Thank you very much for your help.” “But it is no trouble – ” “Thank you, bye-bye,” said Coomy. For a moment, Mr. Rangarajan looked offended. But he recovered his poise, wished the professor a speedy recovery, and left. They pushed Nariman’s.”

— Rohinton Mistry

64. “In case they don’t have strawberry, which one – chocolate or vanilla?”

— Rohinton Mistry

65. “Maneck studied beggermaster’s excessive chatter, his attempt to hide his heartache. Why did human do that to their feelings? Whether it was anger or love or sadness, they always tried to put something else forward in its place. And then there were those who pretended their emotions were bigger and grander than anyone else’s. A little annoyance they acted like gigantic rage; where a smile or chuckle will do, they laughed hysterically. Either way, it was dishonest.”

— Rohinton Mistry

66. “He had learned that dignity could not be acquired from accoutrements and accessories; it cam unasked, it grew from one’s ability to endure.”

— Rohinton Mistry

67. “People sleeping on pavements gives industry a bad name. My friend was saying last week – he’s the director of a multinational, mind you, not some small, two-paisa business – he was saying that at least two hundred million people are surplus to requirements, they should be eliminated.”

— Rohinton Mistry

68. “He wanted his noises to touch the others; friendly noises could melt hostility.”

— Rohinton Mistry

69. “People forget how vulnerable they are despite their shirts and shoes and briefcases, how this hungry and cruel world could strip them, put them in the same position as my beggars.”

— Rohinton Mistry

70. “Where humans were concerned, the only emotion that made sense was wonder, at their ability to endure; and sorrow, for the hopelessness of it all.”

— Rohinton Mistry

71. “Haunted by the unhappiness that appeared like an ugly creature to live in their home.”

— Rohinton Mistry

72. “Holding this book in your hand, sinking back in your soft armchair, you will say to yourself: perhaps it will amuse me. And after you have read this story of great misfortunes, you will no doubt dine well, blaming the author for your own insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy. But rest assured: this tragedy is not a fiction. All is true.”

— Rohinton Mistry

73. “And then there were those who pretended their emotions were bigger and grander than anyone else’s. A little annoyance they acted out like a gigantic rage; where a smile or chuckle would do, they laughed hysterically. Either way, it was dishonest.”

— Rohinton Mistry

74. “I don’t like clever books; I like honest books.”

— Rohinton Mistry

75. “The joy and laughter and youth they brought was an antidote to the somberness enveloping his flat, the hours when he felt the very walls and ceilings were encrusted with the distress of of unhappy decades.”

— Rohinton Mistry

76. “The return of solitude was not quite as Dina expected it to be. These many years I made a virtue of inescapable reality, she thought, calling it peace and quiet.”

— Rohinton Mistry

77. “That’s the secret – to distract the senses. Have I told you my theory about them? I think that our sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing are all calibrated for the enjoyment of a perfect world. But since the world is imperfect, we must put blinders on the senses.”

— Rohinton Mistry

78. “Hell has ways of permeating heaven’s membrane.”

— Rohinton Mistry

79. “The chalks and slates fascinated them. They yearned to hold the white sticks in their hands, make little white squiggles like the other children, draw pictures of huts, cows, goats, and flowers. It was like magic, to make things appear out of nowhere.”

— Rohinton Mistry

80. “Right now, Dinabai’s face, and Om’s, and mine are all occupied. Worrying about work and money, and where to sleep tonight. But that does not mean we are not sad. It may not show on the face, but it’s sitting inside here.’ He placed his hand over his heart. ‘In here, there is limitless room – happiness, kindness, sorrow, anger, friendship.”

— Rohinton Mistry

81. “Marriage is like death, only happens once.”

— Rohinton Mistry

82. “Soon the evening gloom would materialize, infect the fibre-filled air, drape itself over her bed, depress her from now till morning.”

— Rohinton Mistry

83. “Perhaps it was a knack that humans had, for cleaning up their untidy existences – a hidden survival weapon, like antibodies in the bloodstream.”

— Rohinton Mistry

84. “You know, Maneck, the human face has limited space. My mother used to say, if you fill your face with laughing, there will be no room for crying.’ ‘What a nice saying,’ he answered.”

— Rohinton Mistry

85. “Losing, and losing again, is the very basis of the life process, till all we are left with is the bare essence of human existence.”

— Rohinton Mistry

86. “How was the rain in the city?” “Too much,” said Ishvar. “Streets were flooded many times. And here?” “Too little. The devil held his umbrella over us. Let’s hope he shuts it this year.”

— Rohinton Mistry