God save us from people who mean well.
VIKRAM SETHI certainly think its very important that writers as citizens – not necessarily as writers, but just as ordinary citizens – should talk about things that matter to them.
More Vikram Seth Quotes
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God save us from people who mean well.
VIKRAM SETH -
Those books of mine that are remunerative – I’m not talking about poetry here – take years to write, and I am never sure they’ll be successful. So writing is a risk in more senses than one.
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Revision has its own peculiar pleasures and its own peculiar frustrations. The ground rules are already established; the characters already exist. You don’t have to bring the characters to life, but you do have to make them more convincing.
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I think if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. And worth thinking about it as well.
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To not be able to love the one you love is to have your life wrenched away.
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Think of many things. Never place your happiness in one person’s power. Be just to yourself.
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I think it’s possible to be multi-rooted, rather like a banyan tree, without being deracinated.
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You can talk good ideas out of existence.
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There are plenty of good Indian writers in English, and none of us feel we are carrying the burden of being a poster boy.
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And an equation is the same whether it’s written in red or green ink.
VIKRAM SETH -
I tend to follow a scattershot approach to reading a lot of very diverse subjects interest me, and I’m quite happy to read stuff on any of them.
VIKRAM SETH -
You have to learn a few things, which you do along the way, but basically, poetry is a matter of the ear. Iambic pentameters or what constitutes a stanza comes naturally – your ears will know.
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Is it not love that knows how to make smooth things rough and rough things smooth?
VIKRAM SETH -
The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else.
VIKRAM SETH -
In life’s brief game to be a winner A man must have; oh yes, above All else, of course, someone to love.
VIKRAM SETH