It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
V. S. NaipaulRead
When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
Interpretation
Learning to write empowered me to take control of my life and express my thoughts.
This quote by V. S. Naipaul emphasizes the transformative power of writing. By acquiring the skill of writing, the speaker gained autonomy and strength, suggesting that the ability to articulate thoughts and ideas can lead to greater personal empowerment and resilience throughout life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, you can use this quote to illustrate the importance of self-expression.
It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
If you decide to move to another country and to live within its laws you don't express your disregard for the essence of the culture. It's a form of aggression.
One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
I think when you see so many Hindu temples of the 10th century or earlier disfigured, defaced, you realise that something terrible happened. I feel the civilisation of that closed world was mortally wounded by those invasions the old world is destroyed. That has to be understood. Ancient Hindu India was destroyed.
All the things that were read to me by my father were stories about things becoming all right.
It is a lie to write in such way as to be rewarded by fame offered you by some snobbish quasi-literary groups in the intellectual gazettes.
Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment. And when we introduce an intention in our pure potentiality, we put this infinite organizing power to work for us.
I think someday you're going to be a great writer," he said. "But" he added maliciously, "first you'll have to suffer a bit. I mean really suffer, because you don't know what the word means yet. You only think you've suffered. You've got to fall in love first.
[I] learned ... that friends are a good source of food and soul when one has not yet gotten the hang of cooking or living (as opposed to dying) alone. That nothing-not booze, not love, not sex, not work, not moving from state to state-will make the past disappear. Only time and patience heal things. I learned that cutting up your arms in an attempt to make the pain move from inside to outside, from soul to skin, is futile. That death is a cop-out. I tried all of these things.
I was trundling around with my inadequacies, and inner pain and loneliness. I yearned, desperately, to be something. I yearned to get out from where I was ... some deep discontent within myself, actually some deep dislike of myself.
I saw something even more beautiful than a sense of humor: an appreciation for lifeβs essential absurdity.
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