When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
V. S. NaipaulRead
I have trusted to my intuition to find the subjects, and I have written intuitively. I have an idea when I start, I have a shape; but I will fully understand what I have written only after some years.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of intuition in the creative process and acknowledges that true understanding of one's work comes with time.
In this quote, V. S. Naipaul reflects on the role of intuition in his writing. He suggests that while he has a clear vision and structure at the beginning of his creative process, the deeper meaning and significance of his work only become apparent to him after a significant passage of time. This highlights the fluid nature of artistic creation, where initial impulses may evolve and reveal their true essence over time.
Themes
IntuitionCreativityWritingArtistic ProcessUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared at a writer’s workshop to inspire budding authors to trust their intuition.
More from V. S. Naipaul
All quotes →It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
V. S. NaipaulRead
If you decide to move to another country and to live within its laws you don't express your disregard for the essence of the culture. It's a form of aggression.
V. S. NaipaulRead
One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
V. S. NaipaulRead
His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
V. S. NaipaulRead
I think when you see so many Hindu temples of the 10th century or earlier disfigured, defaced, you realise that something terrible happened. I feel the civilisation of that closed world was mortally wounded by those invasions the old world is destroyed. That has to be understood. Ancient Hindu India was destroyed.
V. S. NaipaulRead
Similar quotes
A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end._x000D_ _x000D_ Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
Robert GravesRead
Dancing is a very living art. It is essentially of the moment, although a very old art. A dancer's art is lived while he is dancing. Nothing is left of his art except the pictures and the memories--when his dancing days are over.
Martha GrahamRead
Am I a guy who writes about himself in a comic book, or am I just a character in that book? If I die, will that character keep going, or will he just fade away?
Harvey PekarRead
Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style.
Massimo VignelliRead
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
Pablo CasalsRead
It is only when light is reduced that the pupil opens and feeling goes out of the eyes like touch.
James TurrellRead