Anita Desai Quotations

Usually a feeling of disappointment follows the book, because what I hoped to write is not what I actually accomplished. However, it becomes a motivation to write the next book.

...the moon that hung over the garden like some great priceless pearl, flawed and blemished with grey shadowy ridges as only a very great beauty can risk being.

The wheel turns and turns and turns: it never stops and stands still.

India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very much an old country.

I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not a romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth.

The book begins and ends with the visits to give the impression of a tunnel into their ancestors and family history. I believe in going backwards into the past - I felt I was digging a tunnel back to the past.

People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way.

When I am writing, I focus one hundred percent on my writing. Then, by the time I'm half way through the book, I'm already thinking about the ending.

I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges.

When I was very young, I used to share much of what I wrote with my family, but as I got older and more self-conscious, it became a much more private process.