--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I love the unanswered question, the…" description: "\"“I love the unanswered question, the unresolved story, the unclimbed mountain, the tender shard of an incomplete dream. Most of the time. But is it man..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/arundhati-roy-346_ambiguous_i-love-the-unanswered-question-the-unres_2600042.jpg" --- # I love the unanswered question, the unresolved story, the… ![“I love the unanswered question, the unresolved story, the unclimbed mountain, the tender shard of an incomplete dream. Most of the time. But is it mandatory for a writer to be ambiguous about everything? Isn't it true that there have been fearful episodes in human history when prudence and…” quote by Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/arundhati-roy-346_ambiguous_i-love-the-unanswered-question-the-unres_2600042.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/arundhati-roy-346_ambiguous_i-love-the-unanswered-question-the-unres_2600042.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/arundhati-roy-346_ambiguous_i-love-the-unanswered-question-the-unres_2600042.jpg) > ““I love the unanswered question, the unresolved story, the unclimbed mountain, the tender shard of an incomplete dream. Most of the time. But is it mandatory for a writer to be ambiguous about everything? Isn't it true that there have been fearful episodes in human history when prudence and discretion would have just been euphemisms for pusillanimity? When caution was actually cowardice? When sophistication was disguised decadence? When circumspection was really a kind of espousal? Isn't it true, or at least theoretically possible, that there are times in the life of a people or a nation when the political climate demands that we—even the most sophisticated of us—overtly take sides? I think such times are upon us.”” [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote explores the tension between artistic ambiguity and the need for clear moral stance in turbulent times, questioning whether writers must always be vague or sometimes take explicit positions. **In simple terms:** Writers balance mystery with responsibility in crisis. Key Takeaway Embrace ambiguity but act decisively when needed. Themes art politics responsibility ambiguity courage Mood reflective serious Type philosophical political When to use this quote - writing - journalism - activism - public discourse Key Concepts creative freedom ethical duty political engagement Questions to Reflect On - When should a writer choose clarity over mystery? - How does political pressure shape artistic expression? A Different Perspective Ambiguity can dilute urgency; clarity may alienate nuanced readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguous/) [Ambiguous Isn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguous-isn-1935921/) [History Prudence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-prudence-1935922/) [Unanswered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unanswered/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writer Ambiguous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer-ambiguous-1935920/) ## Related quotes > [Life is ambiguous, isn't it? It's never as black and white as you see it in the movie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-blunt/life-is-ambiguous-isn-t-it-it-s-never-as-black-and-white-as-you-see/) [Emily Blunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-blunt/) > [“Her question went unanswered. Justin went back to singing with an almost dry and scratchy refrain. “Baby. Baby. Baby.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mcmullen-sullivan/her-question-went-unanswered-justin-went-back-to-singing-with-an/) [David McMullen-Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mcmullen-sullivan/) > [An agnostic position is one that leaves open the question whether there exists a god or gods, professing to find such a question unanswered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaroslav-pelikan/an-agnostic-position-is-one-that-leaves-open-the-question-whether/) [Jaroslav Pelikan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaroslav-pelikan/) > [A genius is the man in whom you are least likely to find the power of attending to anything insipid or distasteful in itself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/a-genius-is-the-man-in-whom-you-are-least-likely-to-find-the-power-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The POWER of an unanswered text...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-copeland/the-power-of-an-unanswered-text/) [Rachel Copeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-copeland/) > [Nocebos often cause a physical effect, but it's not a physically produced effect. What's the cause? In many cases, it's an unanswered question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-kirsch/nocebos-often-cause-a-physical-effect-but-it-s-not-a-physically/) [Irving Kirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-kirsch/) > [“Unanswered questions are the ones that haunt us the longest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-k-green/unanswered-questions-are-the-ones-that-haunt-us-the-longest/) [Alice K. Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-k-green/) > [I'd love to meet Shakespeare. I've done so much research on him and there are so many unanswered questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-bateman/i-d-love-to-meet-shakespeare-i-ve-done-so-much-research-on-him-and/) [Tom Bateman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-bateman/) > [There are certain parts of chords that resolve things and tie a bow, and others that keep things open and unanswered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/feist/there-are-certain-parts-of-chords-that-resolve-things-and-tie-a-bow/) [Feist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/feist/) > [We are waiting for Donald Trump's big immigration speech. There are lots of unanswered questions that remain about where exactly Trump stands on deportation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-kornacki/we-are-waiting-for-donald-trump-s-big-immigration-speech-there-are/) [Steve Kornacki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-kornacki/) > [Some say time heals the broken, but I say it gives answers for the unanswered questions and thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/some-say-time-heals-the-broken-but-i-say-it-gives-answers-for-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If I'm home with no chore at hand, and a package of books has come, the television set and the chess board and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/if-i-m-home-with-no-chore-at-hand-and-a-package-of-books-has-come-the/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [Living by faith isn't living with certainty. It's trusting God in spite of unanswered questions and unresolved doubts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/living-by-faith-isn-t-living-with-certainty-it-s-trusting-god-in/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [If you feel you have a strong constituency among the young, you can really die happy, because the great unanswered question, the only valid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/if-you-feel-you-have-a-strong-constituency-among-the-young-you-can/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [Our Lord never referred to unanswered prayer. He taught that prayers are always answered: “Everyone who asks receives”. And He implied that prayers are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/our-lord-never-referred-to-unanswered-prayer-he-taught-that-prayers/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) ## More by Arundhati Roy > [...As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their "sweetheart deals," to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-the-disparity-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grows-the-fight-to/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [In 2001, we were told that the war in Afghanistan was a feminist mission. The marines were liberating Afghan women from the Taliban. Can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/in-2001-we-were-told-that-the-war-in-afghanistan-was-a-feminist/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Poverty is a crime and the poor are terrorists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/poverty-is-a-crime-and-the-poor-are-terrorists/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Flat muscled and honey coloured. Sea secrets in his eyes. A silver raindrop in his ear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/flat-muscled-and-honey-coloured-sea-secrets-in-his-eyes-a-silver/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Fiction and non-fiction are only different techniques of story telling. For reasons I do not fully understand, fiction dances out of me. Non-fiction is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/fiction-and-non-fiction-are-only-different-techniques-of-story/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [NGOs have a complicated space in neoliberal politics. They are supposed to mop up the anger. Even when they are doing good work, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/ngos-have-a-complicated-space-in-neoliberal-politics-they-are/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [I've never been that person who thought that because I've written one novel, I should write another and another. It's only when there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/i-ve-never-been-that-person-who-thought-that-because-i-ve-written-one/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [It is such a supreme folly to believe that nuclear weapons are deadly only if they're used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/it-is-such-a-supreme-folly-to-believe-that-nuclear-weapons-are-deadly/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [I think one of the saddest things that's happening to literature is that it's getting over-simplified by this diet of simple political ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/i-think-one-of-the-saddest-things-that-s-happening-to-literature-is/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you're dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/the-only-dream-worth-having-i-told-her-is-to-dream-that-you-will-live/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [But what was there to say? Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fitted together like stacked spoons. Only that there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/but-what-was-there-to-say-only-that-there-were-tears-only-that/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Truly, there's no alternative to stupidity. Cretinism is the mother of fascism. I have no defence against it, really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/truly-there-s-no-alternative-to-stupidity-cretinism-is-the-mother-of/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/the-secret-of-the-great-stories-is-that-they-have-no-secrets-the/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“stilts, the ground floors given over to parking. It’s a good idea in this car-maddened city,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/stilts-the-ground-floors-given-over-to-parking-it-s-a-good-idea-in/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/perhaps-it-s-true-that-things-can-change-in-a-day-that-a-few-dozen/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) [Explore all 628 Arundhati Roy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) ## More Ambiguous quotes > [Virtually every major technological advance in the history of the human species- back to the invention of stone tools and the domestication of fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-dennett/virtually-every-major-technological-advance-in-the-history-of-the/) [Daniel Dennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-dennett/) > [Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and has become ambiguous through overuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/happiness-can-be-bought-with-a-bottle-of-wine-and-has-become/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Somehow, in the novel format, I don't really like to do upfront, ideological discussion. In my heart, literature remains a poetic and ambiguous medium.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xiaolu-guo/somehow-in-the-novel-format-i-don-t-really-like-to-do-upfront/) [Xiaolu Guo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xiaolu-guo/) > [Redundancy is ambiguous because it seems like a waste if nothing unusual happens. Except that something unusual happens-usually .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/redundancy-is-ambiguous-because-it-seems-like-a-waste-if-nothing/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“In general we are reminded that the word heimlich is not unambiguous, but belongs to two sets of ideas, which, without being contradictory, are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/in-general-we-are-reminded-that-the-word-heimlich-is-not-unambiguous/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [I want each poem to be ambiguous enough that its meaning can shift, depending on the reader's own frame of reference, and depending on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-want-each-poem-to-be-ambiguous-enough-that-its-meaning-can-shift/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Photography appears to be an easy activity; in fact it is a varied and ambiguous process in which the only common denominator among its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/photography-appears-to-be-an-easy-activity-in-fact-it-is-a-varied-and/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/odilon-redon/my-drawings-inspire-and-are-not-to-be-defined-they-place-us-as-does/) [Odilon Redon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/odilon-redon/) > [Words are such gross machinery, so primitive and ambiguous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/words-are-such-gross-machinery-so-primitive-and-ambiguous/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [Wave particle duality is a core feature of our world. Or rather, we should say, it is a core feature of our mathematical descriptions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-wertheim/wave-particle-duality-is-a-core-feature-of-our-world-or-rather-we/) [Margaret Wertheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-wertheim/) > [Humor is really one of the hardest things to define, very hard. And it's very ambiguous. You have it or you don't. You can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-b-ll/humor-is-really-one-of-the-hardest-things-to-define-very-hard-and-it/) [Heinrich Böll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-b-ll/) > [I was perceiving myself as good as a man or equal to a man and as powerful and I wanted to look ambiguous because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-lennox/i-was-perceiving-myself-as-good-as-a-man-or-equal-to-a-man-and-as/) [Annie Lennox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-lennox/) > [I was always, like, ambiguous. Is that how you say it? When I was turning 16 I talked to my mom about transitioning and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adore-delano/i-was-always-like-ambiguous-is-that-how-you-say-it-when-i-was-turning/) [Adore Delano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adore-delano/) > [I am Indian-American, but I often play ethnically ambiguous roles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiya-sircar/i-am-indian-american-but-i-often-play-ethnically-ambiguous-roles/) [Tiya Sircar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiya-sircar/) > [Humor is really one of the hardest things to define, very hard. And it's very ambiguous. You have it, or you don't. You can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-b-ll/humor-is-really-one-of-the-hardest-things-to-define-very-hard-and-it-2/) [Heinrich Boll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-b-ll/) [Browse all 271 Ambiguous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguous/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I love the unanswered question, the unresolved story, the unclimbed mountain, the tender shard of an incomplete dream. Most of the time. But is it mandatory for a writer to be ambiguous about everything? Isn't it true that there have been fearful episodes in human history when prudence and discretion would have just been euphemisms for pusillanimity? When caution was actually cowardice? When sophistication was disguised decadence? When circumspection was really a kind of espousal? 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