I think the idea of migration through time is very important because every human being does that and it unites us with people who migrate through geography. Mohsin Hamid More Quotes by Mohsin Hamid More Quotes From Mohsin Hamid For me, language is about the impossibility of communicating what we precisely wish to communicate and this gorgeous attempt that we make to do that anyway. I love that we will never say exactly what we mean, but we will forever keep trying. Mohsin Hamid wish forever mean We should be very skeptical of people who want to place limits on how we express ourselves. Mohsin Hamid limits want people If my daughter wanted to wear a headscarf and dress in a religiously conservative way, I would be heartbroken. But if she were to decide to do that and she were to live in a place where people said she couldn't do that, I would be entirely committed to her right to do so. Mohsin Hamid heartbroken daughter people I don't want to be anxious on my day-to-day life. I want to try to imagine a future I'd like to live in and then write books and do things that, in my own small way, make it more likely that that future will come to exist. Mohsin Hamid writing trying book We are each of us composed of atoms, but equally, we are composed by time. Mohsin Hamid each us atoms time Like many kids, I used to pretend all sorts of things. I would climb into a tree and imagine that I was on an island, that the grass below we was an ocean, that the leaves were the fins of sharks. Perhaps unlike many people, I never really stopped. I still have a childlike predisposition to fantasise and share my fantasies. Mohsin Hamid climb ocean tree people Migration isn't a one-directional process; it's a colossal process that has been happening in all directions for thousands of years. Mohsin Hamid happening migration process years Love places someone else in the centre of your being and your own self is blurred. Mohsin Hamid your someone self love For people who are at the bottom economically, the world is becoming a harder and harder place. And yet the incentives to become rich are so great because enormous amounts of wealth are being accumulated. And so those two things, that carrot and stick, are beating people along this trajectory of trying desperately to move up in the world. Mohsin Hamid great rich people world We recognise that, with time, every human being will cease being, will only have been. And so we seek to resist time. We rebel against it. We are drawn like lovers to the unreachable past, to imagined memories, to nostalgia. Mohsin Hamid will time memories past There are many cultural scenes in Lahore, just as there are in London. And there is a celebrity culture here, just as there is in London. But in Lahore, the celebrity scene doesn't drown out the rest quite so much. Mohsin Hamid celebrity rest london culture I personally tend to believe that there is a right to migration, the same way there's a right to love whom you like and to believe what you believe and to say what you want to say. Mohsin Hamid you love believe way Given enough time, polar bears might migrate off the Arctic ice, evolve darker coats, find a different diet, and thrive in a new, warmer climate. But if the ice on which they depend disappears in a few decades, they are likely to die. Mohsin Hamid diet die new time It's very contrary to the notion of what America is to imagine that we can stop migration. Mohsin Hamid stop migration imagine america 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 Hamid man jealousy people world In Sufi terms, there are two very interesting notions of transcendence. One is to gaze out at the universe and to comprehend that what you see out there reflects what you are. The other one is to look inside yourself and recognise that the universe is present there. Mohsin Hamid yourself look you universe I'm pro-human. And I think recognizing the human nature of migration is very important. Mohsin Hamid think human-nature nature important I try to write short novels and leave details out not because I want to be minimalist, but because I think that it enables the readers' creativity and interaction with the book. Mohsin Hamid short think creativity book The four places I've called home in my life have been Lahore, London, New York and California. And I have a very strong tie to each one of those four places. Mohsin Hamid my-life strong home life It's very easy, if you come from a place like Pakistan, to imagine that there's a narrative of American aggression towards the place that you come from. But that, in itself, is just a political view. Mohsin Hamid view place you political
