Khushwant Singh - author, editor, journalist and the man who knew how to enjoy life to the fullest and how to make you laugh and laugh at himself -passed away at the age of 99 on Thursday.
Singh was perhaps one of the very few personalities in the last few decades who touched the hearts of millions, with his incredibly bold and courageous thoughts, and perhaps the funniest lines one could think about.
So here are some of the most memorable quotes from the legendary author:
1. "When you have counted eighty years and more, time and tate will batter at your door; But if you should survive to be a hundred, Your life will be death to the very core." (Singh died aged 99 in March 2014)
2. "Here lies one who spared neither man nor God/Waste not your tears on him, he was a sod/ Writing nasty things he regarded as great fun/ Thank the Lord he is dead, this son of a gun." (This is Singh's own epitaph. It was published in the Outlook magazine.)
3. "Morality is a matter of money. Poor people cannot afford to have morals. So they have religion." (Singh on morality)
4. "That's Delhi. When life gets too much for you all you need to do is to spend an hour at Nigambodh Ghat, watch the dead being put to flames and hear their kin wait for them. Then come home and and down a couple of pegs of whisky. In Delhi, death and drink make life worth living." (Delhi: A novel)
5. "But big people's illnesses are always made to sound big. The simple shutting and opening of the royal arse-hole was made to sound as if the world was coming to an end." (Delhi: A novel)
6. "Freedom is for the educated people who found for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indian - or the Pakistanis." (Train to Pakistan)
7. "Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on your cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view."
And here is the classic.
8. "No one has invented a condom for the pen yet" (when once asked why he was so productive).
