Home / Quotes / Quote by Pankaj Mishra

Quote by Pankaj Mishra

“I think the Buddha presents an image of someone who believes in self-control. I think he's offering, perhaps, a critique of the romantic idea of the passions being this wonderful source of life or vitality that define you or your writing.”

Quote by Pankaj Mishra

Author

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. more

You May Also Like

“I wonder if I would have been capable of producing anything if I worked in a more conventional way with a prewritten script, because I'm of the procrastinator class.”

Ifs Way Has Beens Wonder Class Capable Scripts Conventional Procrastinator Conventional Ways

Author:Mike Leigh

“You can't make a movie about the artist without shooting outdoors.”

Artist Shooting

Author:Mike Leigh

“People have been very resistant to giving me more than the standard amount of money. So I keep making films on a similar scale. Which is fine, but also frustrating.”

People Giving Has Beens Film Fine Amount Standards Scales Frustrating

Author:Mike Leigh

“So much of writing is fed by vanity and the feeling that what you are doing is the most important thing in the world and it has not been done before and only you can do it. Without these feelings, many writers would not be able to write anything at all.”

World Writing Important Done Feelings Able Can Do Important Things Vanity Feds You Can Do It

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“If you think that what you're doing is not all that important in the larger scheme of things and that you're just an insignificant creature in the whole wide world, which is full of six billion people, and that people are born and die every day and it makes no difference to future generations what you write, and that writing and reading are increasingly irrelevant activities, you'd probably never get out of bed.”

“You need to work yourself up into some kind of a state every morning and believe that you are doing something terribly important upon which the future of literature, if not the world, depends. Buddhism tells you that this is just a foolish fantasy. So, I try not to think too much about Buddhism early in the morning. From noon on, I think about it.”

Ifs Thinking World Needs Trying Believe Kind Important States Literature Morning Fantasy Too Much Buddhism Depends Foolish Every Morning Noon

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

“The Buddha would not have liked people to call themselves Buddhist. To him that would have been a fundamental error because there are no fixed identities. He would have thought that someone calling himself a Buddhist has too much invested in calling himself a Buddhist.”

People Has Beens Too Much Identity Calling Fundamentals Errors Buddhist Fixed

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“I meditate at airports because those are the places where I’m extremely tense, and I often meditate while I’m walking down the street. I have a thought and become aware of that thought and thereby create another level of awareness.”

Levels Streets Awareness Walking Airports Tense

Author:Pankaj Mishra

“The whole idea of mindfulness is all about having a second-level monitoring of your thoughts and being able to recognize them as being negative or harmful before they become a part of your being, before they become some kind of action like writing an angry letter to someone or speaking too strongly to someone.”

Writing Kind Ideas Whole Able Action Levels Mindfulness Negative Letters Angry Monitoring

Author:Pankaj Mishra