Shantaram

By Gregory David Roberts

 "I was going through deep and silent water. 

Nothing and no-one could make me happy. 

Nothing and no-one could make me sad. 

I was tough. 

Which is probably the saddest thing you can say about a man."

"One of the reasons why we crave love, 

and seek it so desperately,

 is that love is the only cure for loneliness, 

and shame, and sorrow. 

But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. 

Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. 

And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you."

"Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. 

Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. 

In the end that's all there is. 

Love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. 

In the end that's all we have

 - to hold on tight until the dawn."

"At first, when we truly love someone, 

our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. 

What we should fear and dread instead is that we won't stop loving them, 

even after they are dead and gone."