# Quote — Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger

> Now, there are some, and I don’t just mean Communists like you, but thinking men of all political parties, who think that not many of these gods actually exist. Some believe that ‘’none’’ of them exist. There’s just us and an ocean of darkness around us. I’m no philosopher or poet, how would I know the truth? It’s true that all these gods seem to do awfully little work—much like our politicians—and yet keep winning reelection to their golden thrones in heaven, year after year. That’s not to say that I don’t respect them, Mr. Premier! Don’t you ever let that blasphemous idea into your yellow skull. My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time.

- Author: [Aravind Adiga](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga.md)
- Book: [The White Tiger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aravind_Adiga#The_White_Tiger_(2008)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger/now-there-are

## More from this book

> By the way, Mr. Premier: Have you ever noticed that all four of the greatest poets in the world are Muslim? And yet all the Muslims you meet are illiterate or covered head to toe in black burkas or looking for buildings to blow up? It’s a puzzle, isn’t it? If you ever figure these people out, send me an e-mail.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger/by-the-way.md)

> A rich man’s body is like a premium cotton pillow, white and soft and blank. ‘’Ours’’ is different. My father’s spine was a knotted rope, the kind that women use in villages to pull water from wells; the clavicle curved around his neck in high relief, like a dog’s collar; cuts and nicks and scars, like little whip marks in his flesh, ran down his chest and waist, reaching down below his hip bones into his buttocks. The story of a poor man’s life is written on his body, in a sharp pen.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger/a-rich-mans.md)

> The dreams of the rich, and the dreams of the poor—they never overlap, do they?See, the poor dream all their lives of getting enough to eat and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of?Losing weight and looking like the poor.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aravind-adiga/the-white-tiger/the-dreams-of-the.md)