The Namesake Quotes

“My grandfather says that's what books are for," Ashoke said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his hands. "To travel without moving an inch.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“But she has gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, in spite of their miniskirts and bikinis, in spite of their hand-holding on the street and lying on top of each other on the Cambridge Common, prefer their privacy.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“This tradition doesn't exist for Bengalis, naming a son after father or grandfather, a daughter after mother or grandmother. This sign of respect in America ad Europe, this symbol of heritage and lineage, would be ridiculed in India. Within Bengali families, individual names are sacred, inviolable. They are not meant to be inherited or shared.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“Lying in his parents' house, in the middle of the night, she told him the whole story, about meeting Dimitri on a bus, finding his resume in the bin. She confessed that Dimitri had gone with her to Palm Beach. One by one he stored the pieces of information in his mind, unwelcome, unforgivable. And for the first time in his life, another man's name upset Gogol more than his own.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“Eventually he begins to practice his new signature in the margins of the paper. He tries it in various styles, his hand unaccustomed to the angles of the N, the dotting of the two i's. He wonders how many times he has written his old name, at the top of how many tests and quizzes, how many homework assignments, how many yearbook inscriptions to friends. How many times does a person write his name in a lifetime - a million? Two million?”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“All this way, and no picture. You'll have to remember it, then. Will you remember this day, Gogol?"
"How long do I have to remember it?"
"Try to remember it always. Remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake