The reason is that they define how I have gone about my business. I have trusted to intuition. I did it at the beginning. I do it even now. I have no idea how things might turn out, where in…

Quote by V S Naipaul

Topics: V S Naipaul Quotes

We made no inquiries about India or about the families people had left behind. When...

We made no inquiries about India or about the families people had left behind. When...

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is...

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is...

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become...

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become...

It was a good place for getting lost in, a city no one ever knew,...

It was a good place for getting lost in, a city no one ever knew,...

The world is always in movement.

The world is always in movement.

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid...

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid...

But everything of value about me is in my books.

But everything of value about me is in my books.

What was past was past. I suppose that was the general attitude.

What was past was past. I suppose that was the general attitude.

I am the kind of writer that people think other people are reading.

I am the kind of writer that people think other people are reading.

As a child I knew almost nothing, nothing beyond what I had picked up in...

As a child I knew almost nothing, nothing beyond what I had picked up in...

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

I will say I am the sum of my books.

I will say I am the sum of my books.

Each book, intuitively sensed and, in the case of fiction, intuitively worked out, stands on...

Each book, intuitively sensed and, in the case of fiction, intuitively worked out, stands on...

It was a good place for getting lost in, a city no one ever knew,...

It was a good place for getting lost in, a city no one ever knew,...

This is unusual for me. I have given readings and not lectures. I have told...

This is unusual for me. I have given readings and not lectures. I have told...

I came to London. It had become the center of my world and I had...

I came to London. It had become the center of my world and I had...

Argentine political life is like the life of an ant community or an African forest...

Argentine political life is like the life of an ant community or an African forest...

The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this...

The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this...

In Trinidad, where as new arrivals we were a disadvantaged community, that excluding idea was...

In Trinidad, where as new arrivals we were a disadvantaged community, that excluding idea was...

Whatever extra there is in me at any given moment isn't fully formed. I am...

Whatever extra there is in me at any given moment isn't fully formed. I am...