For a writer, obsession is a good substitute for self-discipline. Vikram Seth More Quotes by Vikram Seth More Quotes From Vikram Seth I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias. Vikram Seth future writing world But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they're bad they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they're good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch. Vikram Seth hate long book Don't put things off till it's too late. You are the DJ of your fate. Vikram Seth late fate too-late I am certainly not allergic to causes - particularly on subjects such as religious intolerance. Vikram Seth intolerance causes religious What is the difference between my life and my love? One gets me low, the other lets me go. Vikram Seth let-me-go differences lows Put your backbone where your wishbone is. Vikram Seth backbone christianity faith Behind every door on every ordinary street, in every hut in every ordinary village in this middling planet of a trivial star, such riches are to be found. The strange journeys we undertake on our earthly pilgrimage, the joy and suffering we taste or confer, the chance events that leave us together or apart, what a complex trace they leave: so personal as to be almost incommunicable, so fugitive as to be almost irrecoverable. Vikram Seth stars journey doors The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else. Vikram Seth inspiration mind All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right, An emptiness above-- Know that you aren't alone. The whole world shares your tears, Some for two nights or one, And some for all your years. Vikram Seth sleep love night I think it's possible to be multi-rooted, rather like a banyan tree, without being deracinated. Vikram Seth rooted tree thinking 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 humorous stories thinking And an equation is the same whether it's written in red or green ink Vikram Seth red green ink I 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. Vikram Seth important ordinary thinking In life's brief game to be a winner Vikram Seth winner games men I think if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well. And worth thinking about it as well. Vikram Seth wells ifs thinking To not be able to love the one you love is to have your life wrenched away. Vikram Seth one-you-love able love-is Everyone sort of sees his own life and times as being ephemeral. One thinks that everything good or important that happened, happened in the past. But I think that seeing scenes that you are used to, but with the heightening effects of poetry, perhaps makes you value your life and times more than you might otherwise do. Vikram Seth important past thinking 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 soul blessed grieving I'm not sure anyone can understand a whole life, even their own. Vikram Seth whole-life not-sure whole It's not the gods But our own hearts We need to fear. The evil starts Against all odds Not there but here. Vikram Seth odds evil heart
