Quotes from Gulzar

Getting your work published is a major struggle.

All day long I keep wishing, let partition be a past now. It should only remain a part of history.

Democracy is essential for equality. Thank God, Indian democracy is still working. That is because every Indian is essentially a thinker. Thinking is not limited to the elite.

My thinking process starts with my pen.

I read books, physical books. I am comfortable with it, I can carry it. It is my habit.

I believe words should amaze or amuse. Only then will the listener want to understand the meaning of the song.

It's always humbling and thrilling to be appreciated.

I consider Rahman as a great composer. I had a lump in my throat when I heard his name being announced. I thanked God that he got an Oscar for Original Score, that was more than enough for me. I wonder what might have happened to me if I had gone there. I might have cried.

When I used to listen to the poets in other languages and the kind of appreciation they received, I wanted to be there on the dais and experience that myself.

In films, there is no scope to rectify any mistake... but in theatre, you can rectify it the next day.

Gujarat has a rich culture and in my view every Indian should contribute to highlighting our heritage.

A social consciousness should be reflected in your poetry.

Translating one region's works for another region has a beauty with an inborn connect. We might speak different languages but our culture and history is one.

If two-three films of mine release at the same time and if all of them feel like they are from the same lyricist then something is not quite right. The language of all has to be different if they are different stories.

My songs are not angry or bitter, because I am not bitter. I'm hopeful, and as an artist I have to be, not just for my future or for the future of my children but for the whole world.

We've talked and written about the World War so much that it has almost been purged off. The bitterness is gone. The drama came to an end and it is history.

I've been wearing white since my college days. I like color, but if I wear colored clothes now, it would feel like I'm being false. And that's the worst thing I could be.

If one is aware and alive, then it is one's relationships that make you live. It makes life worth living.

My country is India but my motherland remains Pakistan.

As I grew, I began learning and speaking a word or two in Bengali and that increased my friends circle.

Nostalgia is a sweet place for a poet and writer to be in. But it's an indulgence; a distraction. You can't live in a distraction.

A writer just speaks from his heart, mind and soul. They are the conscience keepers of the society. They are the keepers of the soul of the society.

The voice of universe can be silenced but the voice of writers cannot be.

A writer can be identified just through his sigh, as a mouthful of words are flooded out in his single sigh.