---
title: "1 Characters Sound Quotes By Dinaw Mengestu"
description: "1 Characters Sound quotes by Dinaw Mengestu. Plus more from Dinaw Mengestu and more Characters Sound sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg"
---

> [Don't think about how your characters sound, but how they see. Watch the world through their eyes - study the extraordinary and the mundane through their particular perspective. Walk around the block with them, stroll the rooms they live in,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-sound-but-how-they-see-watch/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg)

## 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/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Characters Sound Quotes By Dinaw Mengestu",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Don't think about how your characters sound, but how they see. Watch the world through their eyes - study the extraordinary and the mundane through their particular perspective. Walk around the block with them, stroll the rooms they live in, figure out what objects on the cluttered dining room table they would inevitably stare at the longest, and then learn why.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Dinaw Mengestu"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-sound-but-how-they-see-watch/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Don't think about how your characters sound, but how they see. Watch the world through their eyes - study…” — Dinaw Mengestu",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/",
            "name": "Characters Sound Quotes by Dinaw Mengestu",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/164/dinaw-mengestu-12378_block_don-t-think-about-how-your-characters-so_1680215.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Characters Sound quotes by Dinaw Mengestu. Plus more from Dinaw Mengestu and more Characters Sound sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Characters Sound",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Dinaw Mengestu",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characters-sound/dinaw-mengestu/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```