Skip to content

Arundhati Roy Quotes

born 1961 India

Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian writer and social activist

India
Activists
Environmentalists
Essayists
Novelists

Also known as: Roy, Arundhati, The God of Small Things, The Shape of the Beast

Random Arundhati Roy quote

50 quotes

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

War Talk (2003)

A train full of pilgrims coming back from the destruction of this Ayodhya mosque which was disputed. The train caught fire; nobody knows who set fire to the train and 57 pilgrims were burnt...

Her own grief grieved her. His devastated her. (On Sophie Mol's death, describing Mamachi's grief, and Chacko's).

The God of Small Things (1997)

Protecting its control of the world’s oil is fundamental to U.S. foreign policy.

Come September (2002)

In Kashmir the only thing to do with nightmares was to embrace them like old friends and manage them like old enemies. (p358)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

Humbling was a nice word, Rahel thought. Humbling along without a care in the world.

The God of Small Things (1997)

It's not a real choice. It's an apparent choice. Like choosing a brand of detergent. Whether you buy Ivory Snow or Tide, they're both owned by Proctor & Gamble.

Modern democracies have been around long enough for neoliberal capitalists to learn how to subvert them. They have mastered the technique of infiltrating the instruments of democracy—the 'independent' judiciary, the 'free' press, the parliament—and moulding them to their purpose.

An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire (2005)

Wars are...usually fought for hegemony, for business. And then of course there’s the business of war...

Come September (2002)

Who can know from the word goodbye what kind of parting is in store for us. (p260)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

The TV channels never ran out of sponsorship for their live telecasts of despair. They never ran out of despair. (p103)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

Even in the most uneventful of our lives, we are called upon to choose our battles (p165)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

In battle...enemies can't break your spirit, only friends can. (p273)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

People—communities, castes, races and even countries—carry their tragic histories and their misfortunes around like trophies, or like stock, to be bought and sold on the open market. (p198)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

Osama Bin Laden and George Bush were both terrorists. They were both building international networks that perpetrate terror and devastate people’s lives. Bush with the Pentagon, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Bin Laden with Al-Qaeda. The difference is that nobody elected Bin Laden...

The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy (2008)

How carelessly imperial power vivisected ancient civilizations. Palestine and Kashmir are imperial Britain’s festering, blood-drenched gifts to the modem world. Both are fault lines in the raging international conflicts of today.

Come September (2002)

These horrific murders are only a symptom of a deeper malaise. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations — millions of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims and Christians — are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault will come.

Sleep came to them, quick and easy, like money to millionaires. (p261)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

Thirty-one.
Not old.
Not young.
But a viable die-able age.

The God of Small Things (1997)

The nuclear tests were a way to shore up our flagging self-esteem. India is still flinching from a cultural insult, still looking for its identity. It's about all that.

Interview with Arundhati Roy, by David Barsamian (2007)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Arundhati Roy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.