Bharati Mukherjee Quotes

[On her writing agenda:] Make the familiar exotic; the exotic familiar. — Bharati Mukherjee

What was the duty of the teacher if not to inspire? — Bharati Mukherjee

The traveler feels at home everywhere, because she is never at home anywhere. — Bharati Mukherjee

A farmer is dependent on too many things outside his control; it makes for modesty. — Bharati Mukherjee

I truly appreciate the special qualities that America and American national myths offer me. — Bharati Mukherjee

Humor's the hardest thing to translate. — Bharati Mukherjee

Dullness is a kind of luxury. — Bharati Mukherjee

Rebellion sounded like a lot of fun, but in Calcutta there was nothing to rebel against. Where would it get you? — Bharati Mukherjee

I thought of America as Natalie Wood and Bob Wagner sprawled on the edge of a Hollywood swimming pool biting into the same red apple. — Bharati Mukherjee

I feel empowered to be a different kind of writer. The longer I stay here, the more light filters into my work. I feel very American. I belong. — Bharati Mukherjee

I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship. — Bharati Mukherjee

I have tried very hard as a novelist to say, 'Novels are about individuals and especially larger than life individuals.' — Bharati Mukherjee

What was the function of poetry if not to improve the petty, cautious minds of evasive children? — Bharati Mukherjee

The world is divided between those who stay and those who leave. — Bharati Mukherjee

It's making life important, making a single life important, rather than having a prescription for the global ills which afflict us. — Bharati Mukherjee

Love on the decline is hard to tell from love on the rise." [From 'The Lady from Lucknow'] — Bharati Mukherjee

Through my fiction, I make mainstream readers see the new Americans as complex human beings, not as just 'The Other.' — Bharati Mukherjee

The divorced Indian lady combines every fantasy about the liberated, wicked Western woman with the safety net of basic submissive familiarity. — Bharati Mukherjee

In India, there are real consequences to inattention; drivers who jeopardize pedestrians can be lynched on the spot. — Bharati Mukherjee

Ancestral habits of mind can be constricting; they also confer one's individuality. — Bharati Mukherjee