---
title: "3 Began Quotes By Dinaw Mengestu"
description: "3 Began quotes by Dinaw Mengestu. Plus more from Dinaw Mengestu and more Began sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/794/dinaw-mengestu-12378_africa_when-i-began-all-our-names-i-did-so-want_1226413.png"
---

> [When I began 'All Our Names,' I did so wanting to create parallel narratives between Africa in the nineteen-seventies and America during…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/when-i-began-all-our-names-i-did-so-wanting-to-create-parallel/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/794/dinaw-mengestu-12378_africa_when-i-began-all-our-names-i-did-so-want_1226413.png)

> [In high school, I began to dig my way into Ethiopian history, and began to understand myself as a young man formed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/in-high-school-i-began-to-dig-my-way-into-ethiopian-history-and-began/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fd/dinaw-mengestu-12378_began_in-high-school-i-began-to-dig-my-way-int_2725414.png)

> [Once I began college, I was committed to writing, which I think is different from saying I wanted to become a writer.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/once-i-began-college-i-was-committed-to-writing-which-i-think-is/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f49/dinaw-mengestu-12378_about_once-i-began-college-i-was-committed-to_2959287.jpg)

## Other authors on Began

## More by Dinaw Mengestu

> [You see, at the beginning we weren't fighters. We weren't yellers or throwers, even if we eventually came to be. It would take time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/you-see-at-the-beginning-we-weren-t-fighters-we-weren-t-yellers-or/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [I told my parents I was going to be a doctor and then a lawyer, but I never believed it and never tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/i-told-my-parents-i-was-going-to-be-a-doctor-and-then-a-lawyer-but-i/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“You will never disappear," I said. "Even if it may feel like you have at some point. We're going to remain a part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/you-will-never-disappear-i-said-even-if-it-may-feel-like-you-have-at/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [The fact that I have always been deeply invested in politics, and African politics in particular, inevitably played a role in my first novel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/the-fact-that-i-have-always-been-deeply-invested-in-politics-and/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [Writers, especially those of us with roots in other countries, are rarely left to ourselves. We are asked to declare our allegiances, or they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/writers-especially-those-of-us-with-roots-in-other-countries-are/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [Personally, its a comfort and happiness to know that my work is taken seriously and is not marginalised and put in a box of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/personally-its-a-comfort-and-happiness-to-know-that-my-work-is-taken/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“If the last thing a man has to hold on to is his sense of pride and accompanying dignity, then more likely than not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/if-the-last-thing-a-man-has-to-hold-on-to-is-his-sense-of-pride-and/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“Have you seen a hungry man with a gun? Of course not. Such things don't exist. It's like saying, have you ever seen a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/have-you-seen-a-hungry-man-with-a-gun-of-course-not-such-things-don-t/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [There are those who wake up each morning to conquer the day, and then there are those of us who wake up only because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/there-are-those-who-wake-up-each-morning-to-conquer-the-day-and-then/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“She always thought Americans were too territorial. 'All those fences and flags,' she had once said, seeing very little difference between the two.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/she-always-thought-americans-were-too-territorial-all-those-fences/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [Ethnic divisions can definitely be exacerbated by a lack of natural resources, but those tensions become violent when people manipulate them for their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/ethnic-divisions-can-definitely-be-exacerbated-by-a-lack-of-natural/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“I remember another aphorism of my father's, one that he used to say whenever we passed someone pissing openly in the street: add color…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/i-remember-another-aphorism-of-my-father-s-one-that-he-used-to-say/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [“Through them, the story becomes an argument for a better way of seeing, which has always struck me as being one of the novel’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/through-them-the-story-becomes-an-argument-for-a-better-way-of-seeing/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [Obviously, in marketing, the best tool is to show the autobiography in fiction. It's inevitable how that happens, but it's generic. Say I've written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/obviously-in-marketing-the-best-tool-is-to-show-the-autobiography-in/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

> [I had lost too much of the heart and all the faith needed to stay afloat in a job where every human encounter felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/i-had-lost-too-much-of-the-heart-and-all-the-faith-needed-to-stay/)

[Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/)

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