Why I Write: Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto

by Saadat Hasan Manto

Languages are not created, they make themselves and no human effort can destroy one already made.

They rant against the rich for no reason other than that they want to be rich themselves.

I am, as I said, a teller of stories. My imagination soars, true, but it plummets in the face of reality and I think to myself that if I had to ultimately fall, why was it that I even soared in the first place. But I continue to be disturbed by small things.

Men demand the body of women. This is why every city has its red light area.

Flaws in character are personal to every individual. They have nothing to do with the talent of the person, which is the aspect that interests

Entertainment is produced; it doesn’t produce itself. If there are many among us who like cheap entertainment, it is the doing of our producers.