This is unusual for me. I have given readings and not lectures. I have told people who ask for lectures that I have no lecture to give. And that is true.

Quote by V S Naipaul

Topics: V S Naipaul Quotes

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

But everything of value about me is in my books.

But everything of value about me is in my books.

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...

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...

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'm the kind of writer that people think other people are reading.

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

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.

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,...

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...

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 reason is that they define how I have gone about my business. I have...

The reason is that they define how I have gone about my business. I have...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The world is always in movement.

The world is always in movement.

The world outside existed in a kind of darkness; and we inquired about nothing.

The world outside existed in a kind of darkness; and we inquired about nothing.

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...