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
I do what I do, and write what I write, without calculating what is worth what and so on. Fortunately, I am not a banker or an accountant. I feel that there is a time when a political statement needs to be made and I make it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the importance of authentic self-expression over financial considerations, especially in art and political statements.
Arundhati Roy emphasizes the value of creating art and making political statements without being constrained by the potential monetary worth of the work. She contrasts her identity as an artist with that of a banker or an accountant, implying that the essence of her work is about meaningful expression rather than commercial gain. This highlights the conviction of prioritizing genuine expression and social commentary in her writing.
Themes
ExpressionArtPoliticsAuthenticitySelfMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
During a writer's retreat, this quote can inspire fellow authors to pursue genuine artistry.
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.
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
Fiction is not imagination. It is what anticipates imagination by giving it the form of reality. This is quite opposite to our own natural tendency which is to anticipate reality by imagining it, or to flee from it by idealizing it. That is why we [Europeans] shall never inhabit true fiction; we are condemned to the imaginary and nostalgia for the future.
Jean BaudrillardRead
There are very few religious experiences that aren't explained using the vocabulary of light.
James TurrellRead
Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.
Ansel AdamsRead
My art springs from my desire to have things in the world which would otherwise never be there.
Carl AndreRead
Art, whose honesty must work through artifice, cannot avoid cheating truth.
Adrienne RichRead
I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song.
Kurt EllingRead