Mohsin Hamid > Quotes

“She was struggling against a current that brought her inside herself.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“If you have ever, sir, been through a breakup of a romantic relationship that involved great love, you will perhaps understand what I experienced. There is in such situations usually a moment of passion during which the unthinkable is said; this is followed by a sense of euphoria at finally being liberated; the world seems fresh as if seen for the first time then comes the inevitable period of doubt, the desperate and doomed backpedaling of regret; and only later, once emotions have receded, is one able to view with equanimity the journey through which one has passed.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“The poets say some moths will do anything out of love for a flame
[...]
The moth takes off again, and we both step back, because he's circling at eye level now and seems to have lost rudder control, smacking into the wall on each round. He circles lower and lower, spinning around the candle in tighter revolutions, like a soap sud over an open drain. A few times he seems to touch the flame, but dances off unhurt.
Then he ignites like a ball of hair, curling into an oily puff of fumes with a hiss. The candle flame flickers and dims for a moment, then burns as bright as before.
Moth Smoke Lingers.”
― Mohsin Hamid, Moth Smoke

“You're never rude,' she said, smiling, 'and I think it's good to be touchy sometimes. It means you care.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“It seems an obvious thing to say, but you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world, so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums, not least my family, now facing war thousands of miles away.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“She attracted people to her; she had presence, an uncommon magnetism. Documenting her effect on her habitat, a naturalist would likely have compared her to a lioness: strong, sleek, and invariably surrounded by her pride.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“When the uncertain future becomes the past, the past in turn becomes uncertain”
― Mohsin Hamid, Moth Smoke

“The ruins proclaim the building was beautiful.”
― Mohsin Hamid

“Darashikoh was inside, for all the world a tastefully dressed patron of the shop, but he carried death in his undershorts and hunger in his heart. ”
― Mohsin Hamid

“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, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“I felt suddenly very young - or perhaps I felt my age.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“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

“Time only moves in one direction. Remember that. Things always change.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“One ought not to encourage beggars, and yes, you are right, it is far better to donate to charities that address the causes of poverty rather than to him, a creature who is merely its symptom.”
― Mohsin Hamid

“Maximum return was the maxim to which we returned.”
― Mohsin Hamid

“I responded to the gravity of an invisible moon at my core, and I undertook journeys I had not expected to take.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist