How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"It's good to know what's wrong with the world," Karla said, after a while. "But it's just as important to know that sometimes, no matter how wrong it is, you can't change it. A lot of the bad stuff in the world wasn't really that bad until someone tried to change it." (1.4.161)
Karla's a thinker, and she is more realistic than our idealistic Lin. She knows that sometimes acting on pure principle with no regard to the results of our actions can do more harm than good. Sometimes trying to change something just for the sake of trying can really cause trouble.
Quote #2
Now, long years and many journeys after that first ride on a crowded rural train, I know that the scrambled fighting and courteous deference were both expressions of one philosophy: the doctrine of necessity. [...] What is necessary? That was the unspoken but implied and unavoidable question everywhere in India. When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible. (1.5.58)
Lin doesn't get why everyone tries to kill each other looking for a seat on the train, and then suddenly gets insanely polite as soon as the train starts rolling, until he realizes that it's all about necessity. Whereas the free-for-all determines your position and comfort for the next several hours, the politeness makes it bearable to be with all those other people for those hours. Actions change according to context, but the underlying principle doesn't.
Quote #3
"The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men," he said. "It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them." (2.9.238)
But what about the people who commit really bad or really good deeds? Khaderbhai seems to be slipping away from any sense of responsibility with his ethical philosophy. Lin is convinced—at first. There might be something to this idea, though, because such a belief is what allows Khaderbhai to see goodness in Lin, a man who has committed very bad deeds.