I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.
Mohsin HamidRead
'Which is stronger, politics or love?' is like asking, 'Which is stronger, exhaling or inhaling?' They are two sides of the same thing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Politics and love are intertwined aspects of human experience, both essential to understanding life.
Mohsin Hamid's quote suggests that politics and love are not opposing forces but rather complementary elements that shape human interactions. Just as exhaling and inhaling are both vital for breathing, politics and love coexist and influence one another, emphasizing the interconnectedness of personal and societal realms.
Themes
PoliticsLoveInterconnectednessHuman ExperienceRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of love in political movements.
More from Mohsin Hamid
All quotes βWhen 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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