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
There can be nothing more humiliating for a writer of fiction to have to do than restate a case that has already been made.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers should strive to create original work rather than rehashing existing ideas.
Arundhati Roy emphasizes the importance of originality in writing, particularly in fiction. The quote suggests that for a fiction writer, having to reiterate someone else's arguments or narratives is a deeply humbling experience, highlighting the value of creativity and innovation in literature.
Themes
OriginalityWritingFictionCreativityInspiration
In practice
Example use cases
A writer might use this quote during a workshop to encourage participants to find their own voice.
More from Arundhati Roy
All quotes βWhen 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.
Arundhati RoyRead
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.
Arundhati RoyRead
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.
Arundhati RoyRead
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.
Arundhati RoyRead
To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
Arundhati RoyRead
Similar quotes
This unlikely story begins on a sea that was a blue dream, as colorful as blue-silk stockings, and beneath a sky as blue as the irises of children's eyes.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
I think I'm a vocal genius, not a musical genius. I like background vocals. I consider myself a voice, not a singer. A voice is a sound, and singing is what you do with that sound.
Brian WilsonRead
To exaggerate the fairness of hair, I come even to orange tones, chromes and pale yellow ... I make a plain background of the richest, intensest blue that I can contrive, and by this simple combination of the bright head against the rich blue background, I get a mysterious effect, like a star in the depths of an azure sky.
Vincent Van GoghRead
I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.
Jesmyn WardRead
With electronic music, you are not confined to the acoustics of a concert-hall, and that inspired me to bring my performances outdoors.
Jean Michel JarreRead
Sometimes it's difficult directing yourself on film because you can't quite separate yourself from the subject.
Stanley TucciRead