57 Mohsin Hamid Quotes for You to Enjoy

Mohsin Hamid

Pakistani Writer

Born: Jul 23, 1971

Me People Think Time Writing You

Related authors: Ayn Rand Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Niccolo Machiavelli Thomas Mann Thomas Paine Voltaire

I am a fairly mongrelized person - you know I've been a migrant my whole life, and it's hard to think of myself as any pure one thing. And so I take it, I guess, very personally - this notion that migrants are bad and that mixing is bad and that people from other places are bad. Mohsin Hamid

Life Myself You People Pure Think Other Guess Bad One Thing Take Know Fairly Am Been Mixing Very Person Any Places Personally Migrant Notion Hard Whole Thing

I feel no desire to write a novel that takes place in the past. Mohsin Hamid

Past No Desire Write Takes Feel In The Past Place Novel Desire

We are each of us composed of atoms, but equally, we are composed by time. Mohsin Hamid

Time Atoms Composed Equally Us Each

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, that the grass below we was an ocean, that the leaves were the fins of sharks. Perhaps unlike many people, I never really stopped. I still have a childlike predisposition to fantasise and share my fantasies. Mohsin Hamid

People Sharks Ocean Grass Tree Unlike Kids Pretend Would Never Share Like Perhaps Sort Island Still Climb Leaves Were Stopped Childlike Fantasies Really Used Many Things Below Imagine

Migration isn't a one-directional process; it's a colossal process that has been happening in all directions for thousands of years. Mohsin Hamid

Has-Been Thousands Thousands Of Years Directions Colossal Been Years Happening Process Migration

When I travel, I feel more like a nomad than a tourist. Mohsin Hamid

Travel More Tourist Feel Like Nomad Than

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 so great because enormous amounts of wealth are being accumulated. And so those two things, that carrot and stick, are beating people along this trajectory of trying desperately to move up in the world. Mohsin Hamid

Great People World Wealth Become Rich Enormous Desperately Those Carrot Beating Bottom Economically Along Because Stick Becoming Up Accumulate Trying Trajectory Move Being Place Incentives Who Harder Amount Things Two

Maybe we are all prospective migrants. The lines of national borders on maps are artificial constructs, as unnatural to us as they are to birds flying overhead. Our first impulse is to ignore them. Mohsin Hamid

First National Birds Our Flying Unnatural Borders Constructs Prospective Overhead Lines National Borders Artificial Impulse Maybe Them Us Ignore Maps

Chance plays a powerful role in every life - our brains and personalities are just chemical soup, after all; a few drops here or there matter enormously - but consequences often become more serious as income levels go down. Mohsin Hamid

Life Matter Become Few Down Every Consequences Our More Drops Powerful Chemical Go Soup Brains Role Often Just After Personalities Serious Income Levels Here Chance Plays

Given enough time, polar bears might migrate off the Arctic ice, evolve darker coats, find a different diet, and thrive in a new, warmer climate. But if the ice on which they depend disappears in a few decades, they are likely to die. Mohsin Hamid

Time Thrive Few Depend Enough Enough Time Evolve Find Darker Arctic Given Bears Disappears Polar New Likely Climate Off Decades Die Diet Different Which Ice Might Warmer Migrate Coats

It's very contrary to the notion of what America is to imagine that we can stop migration. Mohsin Hamid

Very Contrary America Stop Migration Notion Imagine

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 see out there reflects what you are. The other one is to look inside yourself and recognise that the universe is present there. Mohsin Hamid

You Yourself Universe Other Gaze Recognise Out Inside See Comprehend Look Terms Very Reflects Interesting Notions Present Sufi Two

I don't want to be a Michael Moore-style artist, which is not to disparage Michael Moore. But he seems rather unsuccessful at winning people over who don't already agree with him. Mohsin Hamid

People Moore Seems Rather Winning He Unsuccessful Over Him Michael Artist Want Which Disparage Who Agree

I've realized that it's important to stop trying to think I'm any one thing. People are confused as to their identity and try to cling to one aspect of that identity to describe what they are: American, Republican, Muslim. These are really incomplete. Mohsin Hamid

I am a strong believer in the intertwined nature of the personal and the political; I think they move together. Mohsin Hamid

Nature Together Strong Political Think Intertwined Am Personal Move Believer

I'd rather create a miniature painting than a Taj Mahal of a book. Mohsin Hamid

Book Painting Miniature Rather Than Create

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 a nation of 170 million people is finally discovering, together, what it thinks. Mohsin Hamid

Time History Together People First Nation National Finally Television Given Open Leaders Ideas First Time Truly Discovering Debated Forum Pakistan Assessed Million Million People Thinks

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 U.S. as a geopolitical player. Mohsin Hamid

Negative Despite Extremely Evident Fondness Individuals Combination Most Geopolitical Impression American Products Views Reasons Player

Violent cities, people who live in violent cities, find a way - as New Yorkers did 30 or 40 years ago - they find a way to just carry on. But you're stressed out. You're worried, you know. Mohsin Hamid

You People Live Worried Way Out Cities Carry Find New Know Years Years Ago Did Just New Yorkers Who Violent Stressed

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