--- title: "10 Way Quotes By Teju Cole" description: "10 Way quotes by Teju Cole. Plus more from Teju Cole and more Way sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5d/teju-cole-2851_eye_i-deeply-respect-american-sentimentality_2529970.png" --- > [I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/i-deeply-respect-american-sentimentality-the-way-one-respects-a/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5d/teju-cole-2851_eye_i-deeply-respect-american-sentimentality_2529970.png) > [I just realized that we're facing here is an empathy gap. And this was just another way to generate conversation about something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/i-just-realized-that-we-re-facing-here-is-an-empathy-gap-and-this-was/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/632/teju-cole-2851_another-way_i-just-realized-that-we-re-facing-here-i_2235959.png) > [The novelist can't successfully depict such horrifying reality. But she can, and must, try, to bear witness. There are many ways of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-novelist-can-t-successfully-depict-such-horrifying-reality-but/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff7/teju-cole-2851_bears_the-novelist-can-t-successfully-depict-s_2466103.png) > [The creative part of oneself finds its way out. In this case, I got interested particularly in the medium of Twitter and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-creative-part-of-oneself-finds-its-way-out-in-this-case-i-got/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/271/teju-cole-2851_cases_the-creative-part-of-oneself-finds-its-w_776440.png) > [Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/because-i-m-an-art-historian-i-have-some-experience-of-writing-that/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/485/teju-cole-2851_about_because-i-m-an-art-historian-i-have-some_61287.png) > [You don't bring in a gay character as a way of commenting on gay issues. You have one there because he's real,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/you-don-t-bring-in-a-gay-character-as-a-way-of-commenting-on-gay/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b64/teju-cole-2851_character_you-don-t-bring-in-a-gay-character-as-a_1975157.png) > [Not all coincidence has to be loaded with meaning. Sometimes, things simply recur because that's how it is in life, that's how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/not-all-coincidence-has-to-be-loaded-with-meaning-sometimes-things/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/teju-cole-2851_coincidence_not-all-coincidence-has-to-be-loaded-wit_729259.png) > [There are many people who know nothing of a world in which we take the reality of the 'other' seriously. I'm running…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-of-a-world-in-which-we-take/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05d/teju-cole-2851_about_there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-o_1993119.jpg) > [Lyrical poetry is not a big part of most people's lives. Twitter now becomes an interesting way of getting cared for language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most-people-s-lives-twitter-now/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b1/teju-cole-2851_because_lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most_3164963.png) > [The shape the words end up taking are themselves the meaning of the words, they are retrospectively what we meant to say.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-themselves-the-meaning-of-the/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/teju-cole-2851_ends_the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-th_893641.jpg) ## Other authors on Way ## More by Teju Cole > [One of the difficulties of photography is that it is much better at being explicit than at being reticent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/one-of-the-difficulties-of-photography-is-that-it-is-much-better-at/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [Note-taking is important to me: a week's worth of reading notes (or "thoughts I had in the shower" notes) is cumulatively more interesting than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/note-taking-is-important-to-me-a-week-s-worth-of-reading-notes-or/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [It's an Obama book, certainly. I was delighted, and astonished, to hear recently that he was reading it. It's a book about a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/it-s-an-obama-book-certainly-i-was-delighted-and-astonished-to-hear/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history is. You're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/because-i-m-an-art-historian-i-have-some-experience-of-writing-that/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/for-purposes-of-marketing-writers-are-designated-as-poets-novelists/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“Most of the people around me yesterday were middle-aged or old. I am used to it, but it never ceases to surprise me how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/most-of-the-people-around-me-yesterday-were-middle-aged-or-old-i-am/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“I look at his hands. In those hands is new knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/i-look-at-his-hands-in-those-hands-is-new-knowledge/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“The mind roams more widely in the dark than it does in light. It is no surprise, then, stepping out of the unlit house…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-mind-roams-more-widely-in-the-dark-than-it-does-in-light-it-is-no/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“Each person must, on some level, take himself as the calibration point for normalcy, must assume that the room of his own mind is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/each-person-must-on-some-level-take-himself-as-the-calibration-point/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [Writing as writing. Writing as rioting. Writing as righting. On the best days, all three.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/writing-as-writing-writing-as-rioting-writing-as-righting-on-the-best/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“The site was a palimpsest, as was all the city, written, erased, rewritten...Generations rushed through the eye of the needle, and I, one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-site-was-a-palimpsest-as-was-all-the-city-written-erased/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [“As I contemplated the silent world before me, I thought of the many romantic ideas attached to blindness. Ideas of unusual sensitivity and genius…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/as-i-contemplated-the-silent-world-before-me-i-thought-of-the-many/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [Always say 'no pun intended' to draw attention to the intended pun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/always-say-no-pun-intended-to-draw-attention-to-the-intended-pun/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [In a sense, Open City is a kind of Wunderkammer, one of those little rooms assembled with bric-a-brac by Renaissance scholars. I don't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/in-a-sense-open-city-is-a-kind-of-wunderkammer-one-of-those-little/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness. It is sudden. It pounces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/one-of-the-chief-characteristics-of-a-mob-is-its-quickness-it-is/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/teju-cole/#itemlist", "name": "10 Way Quotes By Teju Cole", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. 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I'm running on that platform: other people in other countries are really, really real, and there has to be a way of presenting their reality that is not condescending to them or about our psycho-social needs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Teju Cole" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-of-a-world-in-which-we-take/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05d/teju-cole-2851_about_there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-o_1993119.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05d/teju-cole-2851_about_there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-o_1993119.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05d/teju-cole-2851_about_there-are-many-people-who-know-nothing-o_1993119.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are many people who know nothing of a world in which we take the reality of the 'other' seriously. 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Because there is something deep inside of us that responds to cared for language, whether it's literary, poetry, or really good lyrics in a song.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Teju Cole" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most-people-s-lives-twitter-now/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b1/teju-cole-2851_because_lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most_3164963.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b1/teju-cole-2851_because_lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most_3164963.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b1/teju-cole-2851_because_lyrical-poetry-is-not-a-big-part-of-most_3164963.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Lyrical poetry is not a big part of most people's lives. Twitter now becomes an interesting way of getting…” — Teju Cole", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The shape the words end up taking are themselves the meaning of the words, they are retrospectively what we meant to say. There's no way of knowing this until you register it in visible form. But the other side of this is that you do have some idea of where you are going.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Teju Cole" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-themselves-the-meaning-of-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/teju-cole-2851_ends_the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-th_893641.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/teju-cole-2851_ends_the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-th_893641.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/teju-cole-2851_ends_the-shape-the-words-end-up-taking-are-th_893641.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The shape the words end up taking are themselves the meaning of the words, they are retrospectively what we…” — Teju Cole", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/teju-cole/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/teju-cole/", "name": "Way Quotes by Teju Cole", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/teju-cole/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5d/teju-cole-2851_eye_i-deeply-respect-american-sentimentality_2529970.png" }, "description": "10 Way quotes by Teju Cole. 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