Quotes by Vikram Seth

About Vikram Seth:

Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has received several awards including Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as Mappings and Beastly Tales are notable contributions to the Indian English language poetry canon.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

There are plenty of good Indian writers in English, and none of us feel we are carrying the burden of being a poster boy.

Vikram Seth

You can talk good ideas out of existence.

Vikram Seth

Revision has its own peculiar pleasures and its own peculiar frustrations. The ground rules are already established; the characters already exist. You don't have to bring the characters to life, but you do have to make them more convincing.

Vikram Seth

I'm not sure anyone can understand a whole life, even their own.

Vikram Seth

The fact is that at different stages of your life, and under the influence of different inspirations, you write different things. The point is not necessarily to find your voice, which grinds out the same sort of thing again and again, but to find a ...

Vikram Seth

I spent many years of my life as an economist and demographer. I was finally distracted by writing my novels and poetry. I'm enormously happy that was the case. I feel that with writing I have found my metier.

Vikram Seth

On the whole, I don't like reading long books. I'm not a fan of 'Ulysses.' And I haven't quite finished 'War and Peace.'

Vikram Seth

I just love music - by no stretch of the imagination am I professionally competent.

Vikram Seth

It is exciting to write about the present once one gets beyond the trivia of the moment. As a time to live in, as a time to think about, the present is intriguing.

Vikram Seth

I think goodness is about how person behaves to person, and also person to world, to nature.

Vikram Seth

You have to learn a few things, which you do along the way, but basically, poetry is a matter of the ear. Iambic pentameters or what constitutes a stanza comes naturally - your ears will know.

Vikram Seth

Why do writers, say, give up a job in economics and decide to write poetry? Or, why do they give up a job in a bank and decide to paint, like Krishan Khanna? They want to convey something.

Vikram Seth

Those books of mine that are remunerative - I'm not talking about poetry here - take years to write, and I am never sure they'll be successful. So writing is a risk in more senses than one.

Vikram Seth

You know, I can imagine not writing a novel and writing poetry only.

Vikram Seth

I don't think people give Indian society enough credit. We may not like to talk much about things but we do, basically, want to live and let live.

Vikram Seth

I love speculating about solutions to problems in mathematics. I have no interest whatever in sudoku. But I do look at chess and bridge problems in newspapers. I find that relaxing.

Vikram Seth

I'm actually a very lazy person. Most of the time, I'm happy to sit around and stare. Or watch bad TV soaps. It's quite rare for me to get inspired by anything, but it could be something small. A view of the Serpentine. A snatch of music. Or a little...

Vikram Seth

I rarely listen to music while writing. If I don't like it, it bothers me, and if I like it, it absorbs me so much I can't write.

Vikram Seth

As for what I listen to after writing, it could be anything - but I've noticed that if the current book contains music from one tradition, it is music from another tradition that most relaxes me.

Vikram Seth

When I realised that I had feelings for men as well as women, at first I was worried and frightened, and there was a certain amount of 'Who am I? Am I a criminal?' and so on. It took me a long time to come to terms with myself. Those were painful yea...

Vikram Seth

I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. Of course, I also know people who write really long books.

Vikram Seth

Author Bio

  • NameVikram Seth
  • DescriptionIndian writer
  • BornJune 20, 1952
  • CountryIndia
  • ProfessionPoet; Novelist; Writer
  • WorksA Suitable Boy; The Golden Gate; An Equal Music
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Padma Shri; Sahitya Akademi Award