Romesh Gunesekera Quotes

Powerful Romesh Gunesekera for Daily Growth

About Romesh Gunesekera

Romesh Gunesekera (born April 21, 1952) is a renowned Sri Lankan novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter, best known for his evocative narratives that explore the intricate tapestry of life in Sri Lanka. Born in Colombo to a family of modest means, Gunesekera was educated at St. Thomas' College before moving to England to study architecture at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. However, his passion for writing soon overshadowed his career as an architect. His early works, such as "Reef" (1994) and "The Mango Orchard" (1988), showcase his deep connection to the land and sea of Sri Lanka. Gunesekera's writing is heavily influenced by his personal experiences growing up in a multicultural society, as well as the rich oral traditions of Sri Lankan storytelling. His works often delve into themes of identity, exile, memory, and the complexities of relationships, particularly between parents and children. "Noontide Tales" (1984), a collection of short stories, marked Gunesekera's debut in literature. However, it was his third novel, "The Interpreter" (1993), that brought him international acclaim, earning him the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. His most recent work, "The Crossing" (2016), is a poignant exploration of the Sri Lankan civil war and its impact on individuals and communities. Gunesekera's unique narrative style and deeply humanistic approach to storytelling have made him one of Sri Lanka's most revered authors. His works continue to captivate readers worldwide, offering a profound insight into the heart and soul of Sri Lanka.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Life is like a wave. You can't step in the same river twice."

This quote by Romesh Gunesekera suggests that life, much like a river, is constantly changing and moving forward. Just as one cannot step into the same river twice because the water has flowed on and changed, we cannot relive moments in our lives exactly the same way due to personal growth and external circumstances evolving. It underscores the impermanence of experiences and encourages embracing change as a natural part of life.


"To live is to change, to change is to move, to move is to live."

Romesh Gunesekera's quote, "To live is to change, to change is to move, to move is to live," emphasizes that life and movement are intrinsically linked. Change is an inherent part of existence – it represents growth, evolution, and progression. The act of moving (physically or metaphorically) symbolizes adaptability, resilience, and the ability to embrace new experiences. In essence, this quote highlights that life continues through constant change, movement, and adaptation, reminding us that stagnation is not a part of life.


"Time doesn't heal everything, it just lets us forget."

This quote suggests that while time may pass and allow us to move forward in life, it does not necessarily resolve or fix all wounds or problems we encounter. Instead, it can facilitate a natural process of forgetting, enabling us to continue living without the constant pain and anguish associated with past traumas. However, this doesn't mean that the events themselves have been healed or resolved in a meaningful way; rather, our focus and attention have shifted to the present moment.


"The ocean has its own wisdom."

The ocean, with its vast expanse and depths, represents the inherent mysteries and complexities of life itself. Its "wisdom" symbolizes the profound knowledge it holds about the world's origins, natural phenomena, and the interconnectedness of all living beings within its ecosystem. In essence, this quote encourages us to tap into nature's wisdom and draw inspiration from the ocean's enduring resilience, adaptability, and timeless beauty, which can guide us in navigating life's challenges and finding peace and understanding along our own personal journeys.


"Fear, in the end, is a mirror and we are its reflection."

This quote suggests that fear mirrors our deepest fears and insecurities. It implies that fear does not exist independently; instead, it's a manifestation of our own psychological makeup. By understanding and confronting our fears, we gain self-awareness and insight into our true selves, allowing us to grow and overcome obstacles. Essentially, the quote encourages introspection and personal development as a means of mastering fear.


If you are writing something, you automatically create a certain distance. It can be very little. Even within the same city you imaginatively have a certain distance from your subject, and at the same time, you have to have a connection.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Distance, Within, Very, Automatically

I grew up in Colombo but was lucky enough to spend a lot of time in the countryside as well. Although there was considerable turbulence, even in the 1950s, it did not throw a shadow on my consciousness.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Shadow, Lucky, Consciousness, Turbulence

The nationalist movement supported Sinhala by suppressing Tamil; there were competing nationalisms. It was a fundamental mistake to make parallel streams in education - or a calculated political gamble. Politicians were playing with it.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Mistake, Competing, Gamble, Parallel

To my mind, forgetting is a risky strategy for living. Memory is essential to us. It is DNA. We need to remember, and we need to imagine. That's why we have books, writing, fiction.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Memory, Mind, Living, Essential

Who controls the present controls the past. There's a power structure, if you like, between the present and the past and the future, and that's what I'm interested in.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Past, Controls, Like, Power Structure

Whether it is better to forget and let wounds heal or remember and learn from the past is a crucial question for all of us, wherever we are.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Learn, Question, Wounds, Heal

A passenger on a road journey is in the hands of a driver; a reader embarking on a book is in the hands of a narrator.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Journey, Hands, Embarking, Narrator

In writing, I try to find the right balance between momentum and infinity, truth and beauty.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Beauty, Truth, Right Balance, Infinity

At 16, I started reading trashy stuff, anything slightly naughty and risque.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Reading, Started, Slightly, Started Reading

Two of the first plays I saw after I arrived in Britain were 'King Lear' in Liverpool, and 'Antony and Cleopatra' at Stratford. One was produced with hardly a backdrop and the other with gigantic scene changes. I was impressed by what connected the two: the words and their life beyond the stage.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Other, King Lear, Britain, Hardly

In London, I discovered a peculiar building by Holland Park where the globe was shrunk to fit a British perspective, but which had a library with Sri Lankan books I had never seen before.

- Romesh Gunesekera

London, Discovered, Which, Peculiar

Sure, cricket on a beach on the isle of Jura is different from a Test match in a stadium in Galle, 6000 miles away, despite the sea air.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Test, Away, Sure, Stadium

To come to England in the 1970s was to return to this strange other-world of half-known history. I found the imperial architecture curiously familiar: the post office, the town hall, the botanic gardens.

- Romesh Gunesekera

England, Town, Gardens, Post Office

A novel means a new way of doing a story. If you go back the origins of a novel, 'Clarissa' - that's not a novel; it's just a bunch of letters. But it isn't! Because it's organised in a particular way! A novel is what you make of it.

- Romesh Gunesekera

New, Means, Particular Way, Letters

My parents knew a wider range of people than most, and so we had actors, journalists, politicians, planters, sportsmen and women and business folk all coming in and out of the places we lived in. Although my parents were not wealthy, they lived a legendary and amazingly cosmopolitan life.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Wealthy, Wider, Sportsmen, Cosmopolitan

Novels are the means by which we can escape the moment we are imprisoned in, but at the same time, the roots of a novel are in the world in which it is written. We write, and we read, to understand the world we live in.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Which, Means, Read, Novels

I find anonymous music frees me best. Chinese pop can be perfect. I can't decipher anything on the CD label; there is nothing I can hang on to.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Perfect, Hang, CD, Anonymous

Sri Lanka is an island that everyone loves at some level inside themselves. A very special island that travellers, from Sinbad to Marco Polo, dreamed about. A place where the contours of the land itself forms a kind of sinewy poetry.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Some, Very, About, Travellers

In the sense that writing is to retrieve the past and stop the passing of time, all writing is about loss. It's not nostalgia in the sense of yearning to bring back the past, but recognition of the erosion of things as you live.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Past, Nostalgia, About, Passing

Sri Lankans of every kind, overwhelmingly the poorest, have been bombed by one side or the other for decades.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Been, Side, Poorest, Decades

I've met writers who wanted to be writers from the age of six, but I certainly had no feelings like that. It was only in the Philippines when I was about 15 that I started reading books by very contemporary writers of the Beatnik generation.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Reading Books, Very, About, Started Reading

I probably felt most out of place as a young kid growing up in Sri Lanka. My mental world was somewhere else, partly because of reading and daydreaming.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Kid, Young, Mental, Daydreaming

Every Sri Lankan, and almost every visitor to Sri Lanka, carries a longing for the place in some small form - hiraeth, the Welsh call it - wherever they go and whatever their background. It binds them however much the war and politics might try to divide them.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Small, However, Binds, Wherever

As a youngster, I think I said I wanted to be a journalist, but that's a disguise for being a writer.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Think, I Think, Journalist, Youngster

My writing has been shaped by the three countries - Sri Lanka, the Philippines and England - I have lived in.

- Romesh Gunesekera

England, Been, Shaped, Philippines

My first inkling of what the Commonwealth might really mean came only when I escaped the oddly British-tinged Asia I had known and went to live in the Philippines.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Asia, Might, Had, Philippines

You might want to write 'War and Peace,' but that might not be who you are. You might be better off with nursery rhymes.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Might, Better Off, Rhymes, Nursery

Imaginative writing, to me, is a way of discovering who we are and what we have to contend with; discovering what is out there and also what is not there. It enables me to think and explore and make something new with language while trying to make sense of our lives.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Think, New, Discovering, Enables

With 'Noontide Toll', I wanted to cater to a single story but also collectively more than a single story.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Single, Wanted, Cater, Collectively

The old idea that you grow wiser as you get older, and you learn from your elders, is actually completely wrong.

- Romesh Gunesekera

Learn, Grow, Old, Elders

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