30 Quotes by Saadat Hasan Manto

The field that cannot feed even its tiller Burn down every stalk that stands on it.

We’ve been hearing this for some time now – Save India from this, save it from that. The fact is that India needs to be saved from the people who say it should be saved.

Manto had earlier been prosecuted in Lahore for obscenity, and one of the words alleged to have been obscene was, “breasts.

Literature is a symptom of the state of a society.

For me, remembrance of things past has always been a waste of time, and what’s the point of tears? I don’t know. I’ve always been focussed on today. Yesterday and tomorrow hold no interest for me. What had to happen, did, and what will happen, will.

I thought that the Hindus and Muslims would busy themselves in this war and their blood, which did not mix in mosque and temple, would finally mingle in Bombay’s drains and gutters. I.

Literature and film in my opinion are like saloons where bottles have no labels. I want to taste each one myself and figure out which is what. If I’m denied this by labelling, then my entertainment is considerably lessened.

Engulfed by a sudden emptiness, she was reminded of a train which after discharging passengers at various stations, has finally come to rest, empty at a railway shed.

She could crowd a thousand thoughts into her head, but it was, at that moment like a strainer – the more she tried to fill up every little corner, the more emptiness there was.