I don't read as much as people may expect. In fact, sometimes I feel that I should probably read more, but then I do believe that one of the big problems of our times is that there's too much reading and not enough thinking. Vikram Seth More Quotes by Vikram Seth More Quotes From Vikram Seth 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 Think of many things. Never place your happiness in one person's power. Be just to yourself. Vikram Seth persons thinking I don't pick and choose subjects or settings; they pick and choose me. Vikram Seth choose-me settings subjects God save us from people who mean well. Vikram Seth humanity mean people 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 gossip people fiction Is it not love that knows how to make smooth things rough and rough things smooth? Vikram Seth smooth rough knows 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 novel language should Good music is good music, but it has to be good. Vikram Seth be-good music-is I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. Of course, I also know people who write really long books. Vikram Seth filling-up writing book I need my natural laziness to be counteracted by obsession in order to do anything. Vikram Seth laziness order needs I don't think anyone should be banned. If you don't like a book, set it aside. Vikram Seth should book thinking 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-to-music bother writing I have a reputation for being hermitlike. I'm not. I'm just obsessed with my work. Vikram Seth reputation obsessed 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 matter ears way I just love music - by no stretch of the imagination am I professionally competent. Vikram Seth competent music-love imagination Every object strives for its proper place. A book seeks to be near its truest admirer. Just as this helpless moth seeks to be near the candle that infatuates him. Vikram Seth admirer strive book I recall drinking sherry in California and dreaming of England, where I ate dalmoth and dreamed of Delhi. What is the purpose, I wonder, of all this restlessness? I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias. Vikram Seth california drinking dream 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 Seth successful writing book Why do writers, say, give up a job in economics and decide to write poetry? Or, why do they give up a job in a bank and decide to paint, like Krishan Khanna? They want to convey something. Vikram Seth giving-up writing jobs 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 couple light eye
