25 Arundhati Roy Quotes on the Power of Words

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published July 15, 2023

Be inspired by her writing and her activism with these Arundhati Roy quotes.

Arundhati Roy is a renowned Indian author and activist.

Roy has a powerful voice and an unrivaled commitment to human rights and social equality.

She is also known for her novel The God of Small Things.

She has fearlessly used her writings to illuminate political and social issues.

Besides challenging the status quo, Roy also advocated for the marginalized part of our society.

Early Life

Arundhati Roy was born on November 24, 1961, in India.

She has displayed a powerful intellect for writing since her childhood.

Roy pursued her studies in architecture yet shifted completely towards writing.

In other words, she chose literature as a medium to express her solace and concerns.

Roy gained overnight popularity after launching her debut novel, The God of Small Things, in 1997.

This novel helped her to win the prestigious Booker Prize.

Roy, As an Activist

The literary success of Arundhati Roy allowed her to become an activist.

She embraced the role of an advocate for public justice.

During her journey as an activist, Roy tried to shed light on a wide range of issues, such as:

Corporate globalization
Environmental degradation
Nuclear weapons
Human rights abuses

Her essays, speeches, and interviews powerfully demonstrate her commitment to challenging oppressive systems.

Arundhati Roy has also unleashed her concerns for the environment.

Her book, “Broken Republic: Three Essays” talks about the devastating consequences of mining.

Impact of Roy’s Work

Undoubtedly, Arundhati Roy has contributed a lot to literature, and her role as an activist is also worthy of praise.

She is a courageous person, always in pursuit of justice.

Hence, Roy continues to inspire people around the world.

Her work has served as a reminder of how powerful literature can be.

Roy’s writings also help readers to explore gender dynamics.

She highlighted the issues like gender oppression and became a strong advocate for women’s empowerment.

Her perspectives have allowed other social activists to start broader discussions on issues like:

Feminism
Patriarchy
Gender inequality

So, one can state that Arundhati Roy successfully conveyed her message through her writings and activism.

Top 5 Arundhati Roy Quotes

Here are the top 5 quotes from Arundhati Roy.

1. “Things can change in a day.” — Arundhati Roy

2. “Humans are animals of habit.” — Arundhati Roy

3. “Let’s leave one alive so that it can be lonely.” — Arundhati Roy

4. “Some things come with their own punishments.” — Arundhati Roy

5. “Novels are such mysterious and amorphous and tender things.” — Arundhati Roy

Uplifting Arundhati Roy Quotes

Below is a collection of encouraging quotes from Arundhati Roy that will stimulate you to take action and force you to question the current situation.

6. “[b.] be prepared to be prepared.” — Arundhati Roy

7. “If you’re happy in a dream, does that count?” — Arundhati Roy

8. “Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons.” — Arundhati Roy

9. “But can we, should we, let apprehensions about the future immobilize us in the present?” — Arundhati Roy

10. “Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.” — Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy Quotes About Writers

Check out these profound quotes about writers.

11. “I have truly known what it means for a writer to feel loved.” — Arundhati Roy

12. “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds.” — Arundhati Roy

13. “There can be nothing more humiliating for a writer of fiction to have to do than restate a case that has already been made.” — Arundhati Roy

14. “Years of imprisoning and beheading writers never succeeded in shutting them out. However, placing them in the heart of a market and rewarding them with a lot of commercial success has.” — Arundhati Roy

15. “Some writers like to boil down headlines of liberal newspapers into fiction, so they say there shouldn’t be communal riots, everybody should love each other, and there shouldn’t be boundaries or fundamentalism. But I think literature is more than that; these are political views which most of us hold anyway.” — Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy Quotes About Her Writing Experience

Roy’s quotes offer glimpses into the relationship between her words and her reality.

16. “I never, ever decided that I had to write a novel because, to me, there’s no such decision that ought to be made. It’s only something that I felt compelled to do, and it began to evolve.” — Arundhati Roy

17. “When I decided to write ‘The God of Small Things’, I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.” — Arundhati Roy

18. “I do what I do, and write what I write, without calculating what is worth what and so on. Fortunately, I am not a banker or an accountant. I feel that there is a time when a political statement needs to be made, and I make it.” — Arundhati Roy

19. “As a writer, I have to go to a different place now. As a person… I want to step off whatever this stage is that I have been given. The argument has been made, the battle remains to be fought – and that requires a different set of skills.” — Arundhati Roy

20. “In a way, writing is an incredible act of individualism, producing your language, and yet to use it from the heart of a crowd as opposed to as individual performance is a conflicting thing. I do stand alone, and yet it’s not about being an individual or being ambitious.” — Arundhati Roy

Autobiographical Arundhati Roy Quotes

The autobiographical quotes from Arundhati Roy provide intimate insights into her life and experiences.

21. “I am a Maoist sympathizer. I’m not a Maoist ideologue because the communist movements in history have been just as destructive as capitalism.” — Arundhati Roy

22. “I have nothing against romance. I believe that we must hold on to the right to dream and to be romantic. But an Indian village is not something that I would romanticize that easily.” — Arundhati Roy

23. “I am very conscious that, from the time ‘The God of Small Things’ was published ten years ago, we are in a different world… which needs to be written about differently, and I really very much want to do that.” — Arundhati Roy

24. “I’m living to the edges of my fingernails, using everything I have. It’s impossible for me to look at things politically or in any way as a project, to further my career. You’re injected directly into the blood of the places in which you’re living and what’s going on there.” — Arundhati Roy

25. “I would never, ever use a novel to do thinly disguised political information dissemination. For me, all these experiences, they sat in me, and they got broken down into my body, and I sweated it out. It’s not because I want to talk about ‘issues.’ For me, a novel is a way of seeing the world.” — Arundhati Roy