Mohsin Hamid Quotes - Page 7

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For a combination of reasons, and despite evident fondness for American products and individuals, my impression is that most Pakistanis have extremely negative views of the US as a geopolitical player.

Mohsin Hamid

Player, Views, Negative

"Pakistan is at last finding its voice. The US would be wise not to gag it" by Mohsin Hamid, www.theguardian.com. August 21, 2008.

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I think there's really strong social stratification in South Asia.

Mohsin Hamid

Strong, Thinking, Asia

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You're never rude,' she said, smiling, 'and I think it's good to be touchy sometimes. It means you care.

Mohsin Hamid

Mean, Thinking, Rude

Mohsin Hamid (2007). “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, p.56, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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In a subway car, my skin would typically fall in the middle of the color spectrum. On street corners, tourists would ask me for directions. I was, in four and a half years, never an American; I was immediately a New Yorker.

Mohsin Hamid

Fall, Color, Years

Mohsin Hamid (2008). “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, p.27, Penguin UK

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As a child I read all kinds of stuff, whether it was 'Asterix and Obelix' and 'Tin Tin' comic books, or 'Lord of the Rings,' or Frank Herbert's sci-fi. Or 'The Wind in the Willows.' Or 'Charlotte's Web.'

Mohsin Hamid

Children, Book, Wind

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The mountain trembled like an earthquake. Dust flew into the sky. And the rock turned dark red, like the color of blood'. 'How would you know?' Asks Sindhi cap. 'You only have a black and white television'. 'But it's a very good one. You can almost see colours.

Mohsin Hamid

Dark, Black And White, Sky

Mohsin Hamid (2000). “Moth Smoke”, p.133, Penguin Books India

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It is the effect of scarcity; one’s rules of propriety make one thirst for the improper.

Mohsin Hamid

Scarcity, Thirst, Propriety

Mohsin Hamid (2007). “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, p.26, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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A beard is something that is almost like a mirror to the viewer. When someone sees you wearing a beard, they're seeing something in their own imagination because it's still me whether I'm bearded or not.

Mohsin Hamid

Mirrors, Imagination, Beard

Source: www.npr.org

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Growing up in Pakistan in the 1980s, I lived in the shadow of a tyrannical state.

Mohsin Hamid

Growing Up, Shadow, Pakistan

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And with a last stardrop, a last circle, I arrive, and she's there, chemical wonder in her eyes.

Mohsin Hamid

Eye, Circles, Lasts

Mohsin Hamid (2000). “Moth Smoke”, p.86, Penguin Books India

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I felt suddenly very young - or perhaps I felt my age.

Mohsin Hamid

Age, Young, Felt

Mohsin Hamid (2007). “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, p.125, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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I think the beard helps offset - it's the only hairstyle I can really pull off. But I'm often clean-shaven. I think, you know, for me, it's not that signifier. What's interesting to me though is although the beard isn't a signifier of that to me, other people very often think that it is. And so people in America might react differently. The, you know, border agents might react differently. The guys at airport security might react differently.

Mohsin Hamid

Thinking, America, Airports

Source: www.npr.org

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You're a watchful guy. you know where that comes from?" I shook my head. "It comes from feeling out of place," he said. "Believe me. I know.

Mohsin Hamid

Believe, Guy, Feelings

Mohsin Hamid (2008). “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, p.33, Penguin UK

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For me, writing a novel is like solving a puzzle. But I don't intend my novels as puzzles. I intend them as invitations to dance.

Mohsin Hamid

Writing, Novel, Invitations

"Mohsin Hamid on writing The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid, www.theguardian.com. May 13, 2011.

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Outside of America, there are many people, myself included, who champion values that, in some senses, could be thought of as traditionally American - the idea that everybody's equal, that the rights of women and men should be the same, that there should be no discrimination on religious or sexual orientation, that democracy and rule of law and due process are the ways in which society should govern themselves and minorities should be cared for.

Mohsin Hamid

Religious, Men, Rights

"From Refugees To Politics, Mohsin Hamid Writes The Change He Wants To See". "Fresh Air" with David Bianculli, www.npr.org. March 9, 2018.

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For me, language is about the impossibility of communicating what we precisely wish to communicate and this gorgeous attempt that we make to do that anyway. I love that we will never say exactly what we mean, but we will forever keep trying.

Mohsin Hamid

Mean, Forever, Wish

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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India to someone who lives in Lahore is like Queens to someone who lives in Lower Manhattan - it's not far away, and yet it doesn't exist.

Mohsin Hamid

Queens, India, Manhattan

"Love in the Time of Mass Migration". Interview with Alexander Sammon, www.motherjones.com. March 4, 2017.

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I would have bet money that Britain would not vote to leave the EU, and I would have been wrong. I would have bet money that Trump would not have been the Republican nominee, and I would have been wrong and I certainly would have bet money that he wouldn't win the election.

Mohsin Hamid

Winning, Election, Vote

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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I think writing is a very political act. I think that any writer who says it's not, is simply a writer who is disavowing the political connotations of what they write.

Mohsin Hamid

Writing, Thinking, Political

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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I don't think the function of writing, at least for me as a fiction writer, is to say to people, "Here's the answer." It's not an op-ed.

Mohsin Hamid

Writing, Thinking, People

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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Writing a novel is like an amusement park or a museum or a city. You go into that place and you have certain experiences and those experiences, hopefully, have some impact on you.

Mohsin Hamid

Writing, Museums, Cities

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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I think the idea of migration through time is very important because every human being does that and it unites us with people who migrate through geography.

Mohsin Hamid

Thinking, Ideas, People

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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Transience is what is normal. The problem is that we are busily trying to create political structures and cultural expressions that deny that and to deny that is to deny the basic idea of what is human.

Mohsin Hamid

Expression, Ideas, Political

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

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The ban on the burkini, which is basically a wetsuit, seems particularly ridiculous.

Mohsin Hamid

Ridiculous, Bans, Seems

Source: www.motherjones.com

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My mother has been to Mecca to perform her hajj; my dad hasn't. I come from a very liberal family, so even the people who are outwardly religious tend to subscribe to gender equality, the importance of open-mindedness, all that stuff. My family is generally nonprescriptive.

Mohsin Hamid

Mother, Religious, Dad

Source: www.motherjones.com

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Latest quotes from interviews

"Contemporary culture in Pakistan, just like in America, is continuously hitting us with scary stuff. And so we are utterly anxious. I think that it's very important to resist that anxiety, to think of ways of resisting the constant inflow of negative feelings, not to become depoliticized as a result but to actually work actively to bring into being an optimistic future."

- Mohsin Hamid,

www.npr.org, added Mar 15, 2017

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Mohsin Hamid

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Born: 1971
Occupation: Writer
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