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I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias.

Vikram Seth

In a painting, you can’t make out whether the artist painted the left eye before the right eye. In Chinese calligraphy, you can see the progression of the artist’s stroke.
VIKRAM SETH

Artist Paint Progress See Yourself
I rarely listen to music while writing. If I don’t like it, it bothers me, and if I like it, it absorbs me so much I can’t write.
VIKRAM SETH

Listening Music Myself Poet Writing
It is exciting to write about the present once one gets beyond the trivia of the moment. As a time to live in, as a time to think about, the present is intriguing.
VIKRAM SETH

Beyond Excitement Intrigue Live Present Time
The past is the past, and he can’t make amends, only hope that the gain will outlast the damage.
VIKRAM SETH

Change Damage Hope Past
Think of many things. Never place your happiness in one person’s power. Be just to yourself.
VIKRAM SETH

Happiness Kind Person Place Power Think Yourself
In spite of all temptations of belonging to many nations, I’ve remained an Indian.
VIKRAM SETH

Myself Nation Temptation
So many Indian novels, quite unfairly, do not get the prominence they should because they have been written in a language other than English.
VIKRAM SETH

English Language Novel Writing
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.
VIKRAM SETH

Learning Natural Poetry Way Yourself
Boredom provides a stronger inclination to write than anything.
VIKRAM SETH

Boredom Strong Writing
I have a reputation for being hermitlike. I’m not. I’m just obsessed with my work.
VIKRAM SETH

Myself Obesession Reputation Work
Music, such music, is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve? It is enough, it is to be blessed enough, to live from day to day and to hear such music-not too much, or the soul could not sustain it-from time to time.
VIKRAM SETH

Blessing Enough Gift Grief Happiness Hope Music Soul Time
God save us from people who mean well.
VIKRAM SETH

God One Liner People Save
Dear though the reader might be, I’d be silly to cater to what the reader wanted.
VIKRAM SETH

Myself Reading
Fiction basically is a form of gossip where you want to enter other people’s lives, the lives of people you don’t know, and you want to know what’s going to happen to them.
VIKRAM SETH

Fiction Gossip Live People Yourself
I don’t think anyone should be banned. If you don’t like a book, set it aside.
VIKRAM SETH

Book Myself Thinking
I am certainly not allergic to causes – particularly on subjects such as religious intolerance.
VIKRAM SETH

Myself Reason Religious Subject Tolerance

I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias.

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I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias.

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