"I suppose I have changed a good deal during these twelve years. I have grown more contemplative. there is perhaps a little more poise and equilibrium, some sense of detachment, a greater calmness of spirit. I am not overcome now to the same extent as I used to be by tragedy or what I conceived to be tragedy. The turmoil and disturbance are less and are more temporary , even though the tragedies have been on a far greater scale.Is this, I have wondered, the growth of a spirit of resignation , or is it toughening of the texture? Is it just age and a lessening of vitality and of the passion of life? Or is it due to ling periods in prison and life slowly ebbing away, and the thoughts that fill the mind passing through, after a brief stay, leaving only ripples behind?The tortured mind seeks some mechanism to escape, the senses get dulled from repeated shocks, and a feeling comes over one that so much evil and misfortune shadow over the world that a little more or little less does not make much difference. There is only one thing that remains to us that cannot be taken away : to act with courage and dignity and to stick to the ideals that have given meaning to life..."
- Nehru in The Discovery of India
