Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

“Words frozen in religious texts, when not allowed to be interpreted in the current context, lead to irrationality with religious leaders having the exclusive authority of rationalizing it.”
― R. N. Prasher

“By its very nature, the process of rationalization tries to project the patently irrational as apparently rational.”
― R. N. Prasher

“What is charisma but the power of rhetoric in just a few words. Or even without words!”
― R. N. Prasher

“I would rather drift aimlessly on the turbulent stream of idle discourse than be even in the vicinity of nauseous, turbid effluent of ideological disquisition.”
― R. N. Prasher

“All history is fictionalised narration of an opinion and good authors keep coming up with new opinions on existing narrations. Those who have locked themselves in ideological echo chambers and thrown away the key consider any difference of opinion as an unwelcome perturbation on their sea of conforming tranquility.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Rule of law is the grey area between the two extremes, viz. the moral norm of individual liberty and state coercion. When it is at the former end, it is anarchy; when at the latter, it is totalitarian repressive state. In the real world, every state operates somewhere between these two extremes. Democracies have to place restrictions on individual liberty to prevent a descent into anarchy; dictators have to provide a modicum of individual freedom to prevent desperate rebellion.”
― R. N. Prasher

“As we hammer to shod the mule's hooves
With a succinct kick, the equine reproves.”
― R. N. Prasher

“The ageing, oppressive, authoritarian dictator tends to forget one axiomatic truth; the nation and the people have time, he does not.”
― R. N. Prasher

“In the end, what you know matters less than what others believe that you know.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Tranquility and discontent are games of numbers. Pockets of discontent keep coexisting with pockets of peace. It is only when the former become ubiquitous that the latter is disturbed.”
― R. N. Prasher

“When those in power get busy counting coins, those with lot of coins come to power soon.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Persuasion and coercion are mutually exclusive. Freedom to persuade does include freedom to persuade by coercion. It also does not include persuasion for coercion. The armchair ideologue who preaches coercion is as guilty of coercion as one who coerces after such "peaceful" persuasion.”
― R. N. Prasher

“I would rather drift aimlessly on the turbulent stream of idle discourse than be even in the vicinity of nauseous, turbid effluent of partisan ideological disquisition.”
― R. N. Prasher

“The idea of God has an inherent disconnect with the ideology called religion. The fromer ends where the latter begins.”
― R. N. Prasher

“What lacks discerning eyes does no disservice to you if it passes by without noticing you.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Religion and ideology are two faces of the same Janus. Both lead to suppression of disagreement and hence become fossilized. Such fossilization leads to extreme reverence for the text and the increased authority of the written word, written in an age gone by so long ago that in the present it is clearly anachronistic.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Deification of an individual is the surest way to fossilisation of his ideas. That is how rigid ideologies emerge that leave no scope for interpretation and evolution. The text of today has the lethal possibility of becoming scripture of tomorrow once the people swallow the claim of its author to be a mere scribe of God.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Democratic State exists to support freedom from unlawful coercion and to ensure that perpetrators of such unlawful coercion are coerced by law to conform to the law.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Democratic State has an obligation to protect the weak; anarchy thrives on the weakness and helplessness of the weak. A democratic State that does not protect the weak from unlawful coercion and from hunger invites its own doom and creates space for anarchy.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Communists condemn blind belief. Yet, information blackout by all communist states shows reliance on a a bizarre blind belief - If you turn off the lights, nobody can hear the gossip.”
― R. N. Prasher

“If you haven't lost the path, you haven't found your way.”
― R. N. Prasher

“The quest for the best hurts the rest in the nest.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Freedom is a right only when it sustains and strengthens freedom, not when it seeks to destroy freedom.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Ideology, like every other weapon deployed in the quest for supremacy, is only a means to power. It is never the goal; it has no other sanctity except as a weapon. During the power struggle, like other weapons, ideology too takes a lot of hits and may be disfigured beyond recognition.”
― R. N. Prasher

“The hijab-related deaths and death sentences in Iran show that breaking the attire laws is more dangerous adventure than breaking the nudity laws.”
― R. N. Prasher

“A government that is incapable of destroying non-state coercive actors is as harmful to the cause of freedom as a coercive State.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Most of the dictators do allow freedom in the private space. it is their tentacles in the public space that are considered the killers of democracy. if you want to test democracy, go no further than measuring the restraint that people feel in the public space about activities that cause no harm to fellow citizens, the dictator excluded.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Use of the same word as a joke among friends and its repeated use as an invective are so different. What are friends who cannot hurl absurdities at each other in jest and what is the point in camaraderie if the same word is hurled repeatedly as an innuendo. The intent is the only difference between friend and foe.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Sacrificing ethics at the altar of expediency is a tragic but time-honoured ritual.”
― R. N. Prasher

“Achieving apparent harmony is easier under an authoritarian regime than in a democracy. With a zillion voices in the democratic public space, diversity of opinions pervades. Yet, that diversity and freedom of expression is what ensures the evolution of thoughts, constantly harmonising the instruments in the symphony. Under coercion, quintessential harmony is not only difficult, it is impossible.”
― R. N. Prasher