Vikram Seth

God save us from people who mean well.

— Vikram Seth

To not be able to love the one you love is to have your life wrenched away,

— Vikram Seth

I don't pick and choose subjects or settings; they pick and choose me.

— Vikram Seth

For a writer, obsession is a good substitute for self-discipline.

— Vikram Seth

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

— Vikram Seth

Good music is good music, but it has to be good.

— Vikram Seth

The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else.

— Vikram Seth

Don't put things off till it's too late. You are the DJ of your fate.

— 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,…

— Vikram Seth

I don't think anyone should be banned. If you don't like a book, set it aside.

— Vikram Seth

I need my natural laziness to be counteracted by obsession in order to do anything.

— Vikram Seth

“The past is the past, and he can't make amends, only hope that the gain will outlast the damage.”

— Vikram Seth

I tend to follow a scattershot approach to reading a lot of very diverse subjects interest me, and I'm quite happy to…

— Vikram Seth

Of course, the greater one's need, the greater one's propensity to be mesmerized.

— Vikram Seth

Of course, I have to consider that I've written a lot of prose, but I do in my heart think of myself…

— Vikram Seth

“He had come to a decision about the next step in his life. This decision was irrevocable unless he changed his mind.”

— Vikram Seth

I recall drinking sherry in California and dreaming of England, where I ate dalmoth and dreamed of Delhi. What is the purpose,…

— Vikram Seth

Too many trees are killed to print the words of people who may not have all that much to say, and authors…

— Vikram Seth

“Night Watch Awake for hours and staring at the ceiling Through the unsettled stillness of the night He grows possessed of the…

— Vikram Seth

And the process of reading is such a private one. I once came into a room where a friend of mine was…

— Vikram Seth

If somebody writes clearly, you can pretty much tell immediately if something is shallow or deep, whereas if they write with all…

— Vikram Seth

When I realised that I had feelings for men as well as women, at first I was worried and frightened, and there…

— Vikram Seth

All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right, An emptiness above-- Know that…

— Vikram Seth

Fiction basically is a form of gossip where you want to enter other people's lives, the lives of people you don't know,…

— Vikram Seth

The point really is that a writer tends to write a book that he or she tends to write. It's as simple…

— Vikram Seth

In general, questions are fine; you can always seize upon the parts of them that interest you and concentrate on answering those.…

— Vikram Seth

All over India, all over the world, as the sun or the shadow of darkness moves from east to west, the call…

— Vikram Seth

Behind every door on every ordinary street, in every hut in every ordinary village in this middling planet of a trivial star,…

— Vikram Seth

Everyone sort of sees his own life and times as being ephemeral. One thinks that everything good or important that happened, happened…

— Vikram Seth

“A Word Of Thanks To these I know a debt past telling: My several muses, harsh and kind; My folks, who stood…

— Vikram Seth

“And you spend your day going around from the house of the washerman to the house of the sweeper, asking about this…

— Vikram Seth

“Life is not easy for anyone here. Loss and fear, failure and disappointment, pain and ill-health, doubt and death-even those who have…

— Vikram Seth

“Romantic retrospect aside, the night spent in the truck is distinctly unpleasant. We are cramped and cold. The much-vaunted heating of the…

— Vikram Seth

“There was a few seconds' pause. Then Amit said: I meant, what were you thinking just now. When? said Lata. When you…

— Vikram Seth

“The Fever Bird The fever bird sand out last night. I could not sleep, try as I might. My brain was split,…

— Vikram Seth

“I walk across the park to her flat. It is over-heated and there is a great deal of pink. This used not…

— Vikram Seth

“I've always felt that the performance of a raag resembles a novel - or at least the kind of novel I'm attempting…

— Vikram Seth

“Well, what do you think? Avanti?" "Avanti," cries everyone, and, after a few quick re-tunings of our instruments, and re-initialisings of our…

— Vikram Seth

“She was quite pretty too in those days; indeed, perhaps she still was. But for some reason none of her boyfriends remained…

— Vikram Seth

“There was just enough room for the tonga to get through among the bullock-carts, rickshaws, cycles and pedestrians who thronged both the…

— Vikram Seth