To me, there is nothing higher than fiction. Nothing. It is fundamentally who I am. I am a teller of stories. For me, that's the only way I can make sense of the world, with all the dance that it involves.
Arundhati RoyRead
See, ma'am, frankly speaking this problem can't be solved by us police or military. The problem with these tribals is they don't understand greed. Unless they become greedy there's no hope for us. I have told my boss, remove the force and instead put a TV in every home. Everything will be automatically sorted out.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that understanding and addressing deeper societal issues, like greed, is more effective than using force.
In this quote, Arundhati Roy emphasizes the fundamental differences in the values held by tribal communities compared to those of modern societies, particularly regarding materialism and greed. She argues that imposing external power through police or military force is ineffective in solving their problems, as these communities do not share the same motivations tied to greed. Instead, she suggests that integrating modern influences, such as media, could lead to a shift in mindset and a resolution to their issues, highlighting the importance of understanding cultural differences in problem-solving.
Themes
GreedTribalSocietyCultural DifferencesModernization
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about cultural sensitivity during a lecture.
More from Arundhati Roy
All quotes →When she listened to songs that she loved on the radio, something stirred inside her. A liquid ache spread under her skin, and she walked out of the world like a witch.
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Caste is about dividing people up in ways that preclude every form of solidarity, because even in the lowest castes, there are divisions and sub-castes, and everyone's co-opted into the business of this hierarchical, silo-ised society.
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When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
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In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic.
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To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
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