I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not.

In England I am not English, in India I am not Indian. I am chained to the 1,000 square miles that is Trinidad; but I will evade that fate yet.

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.

We cannot understand all the traits we have inherited. Sometimes we can be strangers to ourselves.

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do.

It's very attractive to people to be a victim. Instead of having to think out the whole situation, about history and your group and what you are doing... if you begin from the point of view of being a victim, you've got it half-made. I mean intellectually.

I profoundly feel that people are letting you down all the time.