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
Look, boys, it ever strike you that the world not real at all? It ever strike you that we have the only mind in the world and you just thinking up everything else? Like me here, having the only mind in the world, and thinking up you people here, thinking up the war and all the houses and the ships and them in the harbour. That ever cross your mind?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the nature of reality and consciousness, suggesting that one's perception may form the entirety of existence.
In this quote, V. S. Naipaul contemplates the idea that the external world may not exist independently of the individual's mind. It suggests that our perceptions and thoughts shape our reality, raising profound questions about the nature of existence and the connection between thought and reality. This introspection prompts one to consider the implications of their own consciousness in relation to the broader world.
Themes
RealityPerceptionConsciousnessMindExistence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a philosophical discussion about the nature of reality.
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.
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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.
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One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
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His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
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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
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