I really wasn't equipped to be a writer when I left Oxford. But then I set out to learn. I've always had the highest regard for the craft. I've always felt it was work. V. S. Naipaul craftequipfelt Change image and share on social
In Trinidad, where as new arrivals we were a disadvantaged community, that excluding idea was a kind of protection; it enabled us - for the time being, and only for the time being - to live in our own way and according to our own rules, to live in our own fading India. V. S. Naipaul arrivalcommunitydisadvantage share on social
I know my father and my mother, but beyond that I cannot go. My ancestry is blurred. V. S. Naipaul ancestryblurfather Change image and share on social
To be a writer you have to be out in the world, you have to risk yourself in the world, you have to be immersed in the world, you have to go out looking for it. This becomes harder as you get older because there's less energy, the days are shorter for older people and it's not so easy to go out and immerse oneself in the world outside. V. S. Naipaul dayeasyenergy share on social
Writers should provoke disagreement. V. S. Naipaul disagreementprovokewriter Change image and share on social
When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day. V. S. Naipaul daylearnmaster Change image and share on social
If ever you wish to meet intellectual frauds in quantity, go to Paris. V. S. Naipaul fraudintellectualmeet Change image and share on social
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 centerhardlondon Change image and share on social