Vikram and the Vampire

This is the way of the world; when an affair comes to six ears, it does not remain secret; if a matter is confided to four ears it may escape further hearing

Love is like the drunkard’s cup: delicious is the first drink, palling are the draughts that succeed it, and most distasteful are the dregs

What is life but a restless vision of imaginary pleasures and of real pains, from which the only waking is the terrible day of death?

we fall at last into hell

what is life and what is youth without the presence of those we love?

Better we die at once, and so escape the woes of the world!’

Die loved in youth, not hated in age.

The religious prince would have slaughtered a cow—that sole unforgivable sin—to save one of her eyelashes: the absolute king would not drink a cup of water without her permission; the staid philosopher, the sober quietist, to win from her the shadow of a smile, would have danced before her like a singing-girl.

‘To die, O man, is a passing pain; to be poor is an interminable anguish.

The labours of the day now became lighter.