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Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra Quotes

Essayist

Pankaj Mishra is an Indian-born British essayist and historian, recognized for his insightful and critical essays on history, politics, and culture. Born in 1969, he has gained attention for his exploration of the complexities of modernity and its effects on the world.

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All People Thinking Writing World Ideas Political Way Important Kind Self Feels Buddhism Ifs West America Century Country Has Beens India Literature

Famous Pankaj Mishra Quotes

“I feel the responsibility of the novelist is to create a very complex world populated by very complex individuals and to deepen that as much as possible. I don't think the responsibility of the reporter or journalist is fundamentally different.”

Thinking World Feels Different Individual Responsibility Complexes Journalist Novelists Reporters

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I don't feel any great need to subscribe to a certain notion of Buddhism that says "You have to do this" or "You have to do that." Buddhism does not prescribe rituals or prohibitions in the way many religions do.”

Way Needs Feels Doe Certain Buddhism Notion Ritual Prohibition

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I wrote for many years without showing my writing to anyone, because I was constantly comparing it to what I was reading. You have to compare yourself to the best and feel totally inadequate.”

Feels Writing Years Reading Compare Inadequate

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“The internet has spawned people for whom knowingness is more important than knowledge. It equips you with the illusion of offering knowledge instantly - and quite easily - so you can read a few articles on a few subjects and feel well informed but not actually know any of those subjects in any depth.”

People Knows Feels Wells Important Subjects Internet Illusion Depth Articles Offering

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I feel very privileged to get to read and write and not to have to do things that I don't like, and I don't want to give that up. Everything else is just a bonus and often a distraction from the writing, reading, and traveling that gives me the most pleasure.”

Want Giving Feels Writing Reading Pleasure Give Me Distraction Privileged Bonus

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I feel that I already have the life I love and I don't see how it could be improved radically by any greater material success I might have - bigger advances, more prizes. It's a kind of madness. And the culture of prize-giving is so corrupt.”

Giving Feels Kind Might Culture Greater Materials Bigger Madness Prize

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Buddhism has always been a religion for people who've worked their way through a cycle of materialism and still feel discontented and want more, or have questions that their state of prosperity is not answering.”

People Way Want Feels Stills States Buddhism Prosperity Cycles Materialism

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“Whether you are in the West, the East, the North, or the South, we should all feel pressured to attempt more, find new ways of outwitting ourselves, in our writing and thinking.”

Thinking Way Feels Should Writing West South East New Ways Pressured Outwitting Writing And Thinking

Author:Pankaj Mishra

About the Author

Born: 1969
Known for: Essayist
Quotes: 90

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People Thinking Writing World Ideas Political Way Important Kind Self Feels Buddhism Ifs West America Century Country Has Beens India Literature

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