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
They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much. The laws that make grandmothers grandmothers, uncles uncles, mothers mothers, cousins cousins, jam jam, and jelly jelly. It was a time when uncles became fathers, mothers lovers, and cousins died and had funerals. It was a time when the unthinkable became thinkable and the impossible really happened.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the complexities of human relationships and challenges societal norms regarding love and family roles.
Arundhati Roy reflects on a time when societal norms and roles within families were transcended, leading to an upheaval of traditional love and relationships. This quote suggests that during significant moments in life, the boundaries of love and familial connection blur, allowing for new and unexpected forms of relationships to emerge, highlighting the fluidity of human emotions and the sometimes chaotic nature of love.
Themes
RelationshipsLoveSocietyFamilyBoundaries
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of accepting diverse relationships.
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
When we admit our vulnerability, we include others. If we deny it, we shut them out.
May SartonRead
No journalist has ever been in my house and no photographs have ever been taken of where I live. I don't parade my family out for display, which is the way it will stay.
Tom HanksRead
Forgiveness is the grace by which you enable the other person to get up and get up with dignity, to begin anew.
Desmond TutuRead
Long after you’ve forgotten someone’s voice, you can still remember the sound of their happiness or their sadness. You can feel it in your body.
Anne MichaelsRead
The relationship to one's fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one's striving.
Franz KafkaRead
Treating people the same is not equal treatment if they are not the same.
Deborah TannenRead