What is the purpose of a city if not to grant the greatest of gifts, anonymity? Rabih Alameddine More Quotes by Rabih Alameddine More Quotes From Rabih Alameddine I couldn't tell the truth if my life depended on it. Rabih Alameddine my-life tell truth life I always say show me a storyteller who doesn't embellish, and I'll show you a bad one. Rabih Alameddine say bad me you I loved problems on paper, and I was good at math, but I was a mechanical engineer, and I never understood - or cared to - how a car worked. Rabih Alameddine loved problems good car Nobody ever said I'm a simple personality. Rabih Alameddine nobody simple personality said Every writer uses his own way to motivate oneself. Rabih Alameddine motivate own oneself way When I wrote my first book, 'Koolaids,' I felt rejected and not wanted. Rabih Alameddine first felt wanted book Nobody ever calls me a soccer-playing writer, even though I play soccer and it's part of who I am. Rabih Alameddine nobody i-am me play I allegedly am an outsider writer, so I write from the perspective of somebody who doesn't completely fit in. But at the same time, I can state the fact that I don't know of any good writer who is not an outsider writer. Rabih Alameddine good perspective i-can time As teenagers, a lot of us just did not want much to do with Arabic culture - we looked to the West. Rabih Alameddine us just want culture I started writing half a paragraph of a mystery novel, half a paragraph there, and they were terrible. Rabih Alameddine mystery novel half writing