Almost certainly I will not tell her my intentions this evening or tonight. I will put it off. Why? Because words are actions and they make things happen. Once they are out you cannot put them back. Hanif Kureishi More Quotes by Hanif Kureishi More Quotes From Hanif Kureishi Soon we will be strangers. No, we can never be that. Hurting someone is an act of reluctant intimacy. We will be dangerous acquaintances with a history. Hanif Kureishi future hurt history Love cannot be measured by its duration. Hanif Kureishi duration My father was a civil servant, so having a regular job, being respectable is a big deal for me. Respectable in the sense that I support my family. That's what I mean by respectability. Hanif Kureishi jobs mean father At the deepest level people are madder than they want to believe. You will find that they fear being eaten, and are alarmed by their desire to devour others. Hanif Kureishi desire believe people I've never had any desire to be good. I don't like goodness particularly. Hanif Kureishi be-good goodness desire The cruellest thing you can do to Kerouac is reread him at thirty-eight. Hanif Kureishi thirty-eight thirty eight I can't sleep with you tonight, baby, my head's all messed up, you've no idea. It's somewhere else and it's full of voices and songs and bad things. Hanif Kureishi depression song baby I am determined to live without illusions. I want to look at reality straight. Without hiding. Hanif Kureishi want reality looks I'm always writing. I'm an obsessive. It's not because I'm a disciplined person. It's because I'm crazy about it. Hanif Kureishi obsessive crazy writing I'm interested in philosophical psychology, people like Nietzsche, Freud, Alcan, Foucault, Derrida. Hanif Kureishi philosophical psychology people You can't spend your life beating yourself up for something that happened yesterday. You die if you don't follow your desire. Hanif Kureishi beating-yourself-up yesterday desire If jealousy was the vindaloo of love, I'd imagined her tongue burning, and such a fire forcing her to spill her truth. Hanif Kureishi burning tongue fire Anna Karenina is just a story about a woman falling in love with a bloke who is not her husband. Its gossip, rubbish - on the other hand, its the deepest story there could be about social transgression, about love, betrayal, duty, children. Hanif Kureishi falling-in-love husband children Children, who have yet to learn our ways, are notoriously promiscuous in their affection. They’ll sit on anyone’s knee. Hanif Kureishi knees children way ...I love 'yes.' It's practically the most interesting word of all, don't you think?" Like a hinge opening a door outward. Yes, yes, yes. Hanif Kureishi doors interesting thinking Like you, she will have been with other people, but I've got a feeling there's something between you. Hanif Kureishi like-you feelings people But you're beautiful, and the beautiful should be given whatever they want." "Hey, what about the ugly ones?" "The ugly ones." She poked her tongue out. "It's their fault if their ugly. They're to be blamed, not pitied. Hanif Kureishi ugly hey beautiful No amount of promises can guarantee love Hanif Kureishi amount guarantees promise Nothing can be repaired or advanced but only accepted Hanif Kureishi accepted But in love each moment is magnified, and every gesture, word and syllable is examined like a speech by the President. Hanif Kureishi gestures speech president