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
As she watched him she understood the quality of his beauty. How his labor had shaped him. How the wood he fashioned had fashioned him. Each plank he planed, each nail he drove, each thing he made molded him. Had left its stamp on him. Had given him his strength, his supple grace.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how a person's work and creativity shape their identity and character.
In this quote, Arundhati Roy emphasizes the deep connection between an artist and their craft. It illustrates how the labor put into creating something beautiful also transforms the creator, enriching their life experience and honing their skills. Each action taken in the creative process leaves a lasting impact, forging a unique identity and contributing to personal strength and grace.
Themes
ArtBeautyLaborIdentityCreationStrength
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop, you might say, 'As Arundhati Roy noted, our work shapes us, reflecting our dedication and skill.'
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.
Arundhati RoyRead
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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Similar quotes
My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.
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I think the only person a writer has an obligation to is himself. If what I write doesn't fulfill something in me, if I don't honestly feel it's the best I can do, then I'm miserable.
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We tend to think and feel in terms of the art we like; and if the art we like is bad then our thinking and feeling will be bad. And if the thinking and feeling of most of the individuals composing a society is bad, is not that society in danger?
Aldous HuxleyRead
The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.
Robert HenriRead
In the NUDE, all that is not beautiful is obscene.
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The artist and the photographer seek the mysteries and the adventure of experience in nature.
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