I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.
Mohsin HamidRead
Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Stories bring together different aspects of life that may seem disconnected, allowing for a sense of belonging and comfort.
In this quote, Mohsin Hamid expresses the powerful role of stories in bridging the divides created by distance and the passage of time. Through storytelling, he emphasizes how fragmented experiences can be woven into a coherent narrative, fostering a sense of identity and comfort in one’s multifaceted existence, even when it feels culturally or geographically disparate.
Themes
StoriesIdentityConnectionComfortNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the power of narrative in personal growth.
More from Mohsin Hamid
All quotes →When the forces are aligning against hybridity, it harms everyone, as we are all migrants. Growing up in Pakistan, I know just how oppressive that kind of puritanical mindset can be.
Mohsin HamidRead
Some of my relatives held on to imagined memories the way homeless people hold onto lottery tickets. Nostalgia was their crack cocaine, if you will, and my childhood was littered with the consequences of their addiction : unserviceable debts, squabbles over inheritances, the odd alcoholic or suicide.
Mohsin HamidRead
I think there's a growing courage among the younger generation of American writers. Because of the more superficial treatment of characters taking place in cinema, they have had to deal with that by digging deeper into who these people are.
Mohsin HamidRead
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 the world attracts the jealousy of others in much the same way that the richest, most powerful man in a small town attracts the jealousy of others.
Mohsin HamidRead
I think that when we take the long view, the notion that some people are deemed less worthy of being able to move - to not have the right to cross borders - over time, that's going to seem as outmoded and as unfair, really, as racial discrimination or other kinds of discrimination.
Mohsin HamidRead
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