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
When she looked at him now, she couldn't help thinking that the man he had become bore so little resemblance to the boy he had been. His smile was the only piece of baggage he had carried with him from boyhood into manhood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how a person can change significantly over time, with only a small part of their childhood remaining.
Arundhati Roy's quote illustrates the profound transformation that individuals undergo as they transition from youth to adulthood. It highlights the contrast between the innocence and simplicity of childhood and the complexities of adult life, suggesting that while we may evolve in many ways, certain innate qualities, like a genuine smile, can persist and serve as a connection to our earlier selves.
Themes
TransformationChildhoodAdulthoodSmileChange
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech, one might quote this to emphasize the journey of growth.
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
We're reminded yet again: we are stronger, we are smarter, we have more fun when we include each other - when we include as many perspectives as possible.
Leslie Odom, Jr.Read
Not afraid of poverty and drabness and who is untouched by it, untouched by the drunkenness of her friends; (she) who judges, selects, discards people with severity, who knows, when she is telling her endless anecdotes, that they are ways of escape, keeping herself all the more secret behind that profuse talk.
Anais NinRead
When I ask OGs why there's so much division in the streets, nobody never really knows. But you know one thing that everybody always mention? A woman.
Kendrick LamarRead
And verily, a woman need know but one man well, in order to understand all men; whereas a man may know all women and understand not one of them.
Helen RowlandRead
I don't think there should be anything that women are embarrassed to talk about in the 21st century, because for the last 100,000 years, men have said everything that's on their minds and described everything they have done.
Caitlin MoranRead
It may be regarded as certain that not a foot of land will ever be taken from the Indians without their own consent.
Thomas JeffersonRead