#l

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#doing #easy #easy thing #element #i

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#comedy #deepest #hysteria #moment #writes

I came to London. It had become the center of my world and I had worked hard to come to it. And I was lost. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#came #center #come #had #hard

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid out for us, but the mystery of the writing will remain. No amount of documentation, however fascinating, can take us there. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#details #documentation #fascinating #friendships #however

A cat only has itself. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#itself #only

A civilization which has taken over the world cannot be said to be dying. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#civilization #dying #over #said #taken

Africa is not a fun place, you know. A fun place is somewhere that lifts the spirits, that cossets the senses. I don't think that can be said of the Africa I traveled in. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#fun #i #know #lifts #place

An autobiography can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies: it reveals the writer totally. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#distort #facts #fiction #lies #never

As a child I knew almost nothing, nothing beyond what I had picked up in my grandmother's house. All children, I suppose, come into the world like that, not knowing who they are. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#beyond #child #children #come #grandmother

But everything of value about me is in my books. ↗

— V. S. Naipaul

#books #everything #me #value