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.
VIKRAM SETHIn 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.
More Vikram Seth Quotes
-
-
Of course, the greater one’s need, the greater one’s propensity to be mesmerized.
VIKRAM SETH -
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 -
Dear though the reader might be, I’d be silly to cater to what the reader wanted.
VIKRAM SETH -
I am certainly not allergic to causes – particularly on subjects such as religious intolerance.
VIKRAM SETH -
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 -
You get your inspiration – suggestions – wherever you have to, even from your mother.
VIKRAM SETH -
You will get what you want but you must want it and not just wish it.
VIKRAM SETH -
And an equation is the same whether it’s written in red or green ink.
VIKRAM SETH -
My eyes close. I am here and not here. A waking nap? A flight to the end of the galaxy and perhaps a couple of billion light-years beyond?
VIKRAM SETH -
What is the difference between my life and my love? One gets me low, the other lets me go.
VIKRAM SETH -
Poetry, I think, intensifies the reader’s experience. If it’s a humorous facet of the story, poetry makes it more exuberant. If it’s a sad facet, poetry can make it more poignant.
VIKRAM SETH -
Is it not love that knows how to make smooth things rough and rough things smooth?
VIKRAM SETH -
I have a reputation for being hermitlike. I’m not. I’m just obsessed with my work.
VIKRAM SETH -
Think of many things. Never place your happiness in one person’s power. Be just to yourself.
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.
VIKRAM SETH






