--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I arrived in the U.S. for graduate study…" description: "\"I arrived in the U.S. for graduate study in literature in the fall of 1986. I was twenty-three. After a year, I began to paint, even though I had come ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/251/amitava-kumar-5002_become_i-arrived-in-the-u-s-for-graduate-study_1853909.jpg" --- # I arrived in the U.S. for graduate study in literature in… ![“I arrived in the U.S. for graduate study in literature in the fall of 1986. I was twenty-three. After a year, I began to paint, even though I had come to the U.S. intending to become a writer.” quote by Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/251/amitava-kumar-5002_become_i-arrived-in-the-u-s-for-graduate-study_1853909.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/251/amitava-kumar-5002_become_i-arrived-in-the-u-s-for-graduate-study_1853909.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/251/amitava-kumar-5002_become_i-arrived-in-the-u-s-for-graduate-study_1853909.jpg) > “I arrived in the U.S. for graduate study in literature in the fall of 1986. I was twenty-three. After a year, I began to paint, even though I had come to the U.S. intending to become a writer.” [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A young scholar arrives in America, discovers a new artistic passion, shifting career goals despite original intentions. **In simple terms:** Unexpected interests can redirect life plans. Key Takeaway Stay open to evolving passions. Themes career change artistic discovery immigration identity Mood hopeful reflective Type memoir inspirational When to use this quote - graduate studies - art workshops - career counseling Key Concepts personal growth cross‑cultural experience Questions to Reflect On - What drives you to pursue a new skill? - How can you balance original goals with emerging interests? A Different Perspective Changing paths may cause uncertainty and risk. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [1986 Year](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/1986-year-2451488/) [Arrived Graduate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrived-graduate-2451485/) [Become](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/become/) [Began Paint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/began-paint-2451484/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Come](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/come/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Even](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/even/) [Fall 1986](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fall-1986-2451487/) [Graduation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graduation/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Year](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/year/) [Year Began](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/year-began-2451486/) ## Related quotes > [I began to paint again, even though I could barely hold the brush, but knowing exactly what I wanted to paint, I began three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-van-gogh/i-began-to-paint-again-even-though-i-could-barely-hold-the-brush-but/) [Vincent Van Gogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-van-gogh/) > [The new year has began but there are those who still stucked in the miseries of 2014](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simphiwe-ntuli/the-new-year-has-began-but-there-are-those-who-still-stucked-in-the/) [Simphiwe Ntuli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simphiwe-ntuli/) > [Nineteen-seventy-nine had been a year of American setbacks around the globe. 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It was a crazy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-o-neill/in-the-summer-we-graduated-we-flipped-out-completely-drinking-beer/) [Ed O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-o-neill/) > [When one considers our nation's educational foundations - Harvard, Yale, Princeton and most of our respected institutions were originally Christian - it becomes evident…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-falwell/when-one-considers-our-nation-s-educational-foundations-harvard-yale/) [Jonathan Falwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-falwell/) > [“Only one-third of college students from the bottom quarter of households graduate, while two-thirds of students from the top quarter do. Both ability and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-temin/only-one-third-of-college-students-from-the-bottom-quarter-of/) [Peter Temin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-temin/) > [Just wanted to congratulate myself on sitting through your graduation ceremony.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/just-wanted-to-congratulate-myself-on-sitting-through-your-graduation/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My graduation speech: I would like to thank wikipedia, copy and paste. I'm out peeps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brookelle-willcox/my-graduation-speech-i-would-like-to-thank-wikipedia-copy-and-paste-i/) [Brookelle Willcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brookelle-willcox/) > [A much as I say I'm ready to graduate I know I'm going to miss high school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-much-as-i-say-i-m-ready-to-graduate-i-know-i-m-going-to-miss-high/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it sure has earned a lot of people graduate degrees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-irving/curiosity-may-have-killed-the-cat-but-it-sure-has-earned-a-lot-of/) [Robyn Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn-irving/) > [Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/each-year-more-than-100-000-high-school-graduates-with-proved-ability/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) ## More by Amitava Kumar > [I thought I'd be the first to introduce herbal tea to Patna. White tea, ginger tea, rooibos, camomile. No one touched it. On subsequent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/i-thought-i-d-be-the-first-to-introduce-herbal-tea-to-patna-white-tea/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [Any real piece of writing is an act of courage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/any-real-piece-of-writing-is-an-act-of-courage/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [We live in a cynical system where the powerful are able to exploit the demand of the aggressive few, from whichever religion or group,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/we-live-in-a-cynical-system-where-the-powerful-are-able-to-exploit/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [For some members of the radical Left, particularly in the West, people in developing countries are an ideological abstraction, on whom fantasies of liberation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/for-some-members-of-the-radical-left-particularly-in-the-west-people/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [The writer will write in his or her words, but the readers, even when they are not reading you, will take it elsewhere entirely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/the-writer-will-write-in-his-or-her-words-but-the-readers-even-when/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [My past makes me an insider, but my profession makes me an outsider. A writer always stands outside to report on reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/my-past-makes-me-an-insider-but-my-profession-makes-me-an-outsider-a/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [“There is no point in fighting condescension with condescension.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/there-is-no-point-in-fighting-condescension-with-condescension/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [We learn that our lives find narrative form neither in the tired, familiar slogans of our captains nor in the symmetries of ideological camps,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/we-learn-that-our-lives-find-narrative-form-neither-in-the-tired/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [All good works of art must ask this question: 'You want to breathe free, yes, but do you know how to kiss?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/all-good-works-of-art-must-ask-this-question-you-want-to-breathe-free/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [An essay is not an op-ed that tells its reader what to think. An essay is a complicated working-out of one's own contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amitava-kumar/an-essay-is-not-an-op-ed-that-tells-its-reader-what-to-think-an-essay/) [Amitava Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amitava-kumar/) > [Does the entry of Indian H-1B worker augur a change in the relations of production in the world of cybertechnology? 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