Mohsin Hamid Quotes

102 quotes in 1729 categories

• Four thousand years ago, we, the people of the Indus River basin, had cities that were laid out on grids and boasted underground sewers, while… Ago
• But when you read a book, what you see are black squiggles on pulped wood or, increasingly, dark pixels on a pale screen. To transform… Black
• Only in novels can we take another human being into our head and create something jointly. Another Human
• Television has given Pakistan a truly open national forum for the first time in its history. Ideas are debated, leaders are assessed and criticised, and… Assessed
• For people who are at the bottom economically, the world is becoming a harder and harder place. And yet the incentives to become rich are… Accumulate
• Farmers and people who make a living from the land are finding it impossible to survive. So the first step is to get out of… City
• I think the most effective forms of critique are ones that establish a common ground for people to occupy, and then appeal to the best… Appeal
• Novel writing is solitary work. Novel
• Novel writing is the slowest art form in the world. It is not a sprint. It is not even a marathon. It is a series… Across
• Like many kids, I used to pretend all sorts of things. I would climb into a tree and imagine that I was on an island,… All
• Part of the reason people abroad resent the United States is something Americans can do very little about: envy. The richest, most powerful country in… Abroad
• In Sufi terms, there are two very interesting notions of transcendence. One is to gaze out at the universe and to comprehend that what you… Comprehend
• When people talk about the death of the novel, they are speaking of the need for the birth of something different. Birth
• Sufi poetry is, in a sense, self-help poetry about how to live a decent life, how to deal with your mortality. Deal
• Love places someone else in the centre of your being and your own self is blurred. Blurred
• Novels are make-believe and play for adults. Adult
• For me, writing a novel is more like digging a well than climbing a mountain - some heroic thing where I set out to conquer.… Become Something
• When terrorism strikes, divisive anger is a natural response. Anger
• I am sometimes asked to name my favourite books. The list changes, depending on my mood, the year, tricks played by memory. I might mention… Asked
• Lived religion is a very different thing from strict textual analysis. Very few people of any faith live their lives as literalist interpretations of scripture. Analysis

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