Memoona Afzal > Memoona's Quotes

“It seems an obvious thing to say, but you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world, so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums, not least my family, now facing war thousands of miles away.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“You're never rude,' she said, smiling, 'and I think it's good to be touchy sometimes. It means you care.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“The ruins proclaim the building was beautiful.”
― Mohsin Hamid

“Four thousand years ago, we, the people of the Indus River basin, had cities that were laid out on grids and boasted underground sewers, while the ancestors of those who would invade and colonize America were illiterate barbarians.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“But when you read a book, what you see are black squiggles on pulped wood or, increasingly, dark pixels on a pale screen. To transform these icons into characters and events, you must imagine. And when you imagine, you create.”
― Mohsin Hamid, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

“For we were not always burdened by debt, dependent on foreign aid and handouts; in the stories we tell of ourselves we were not the crazed and destitute radicals you see on your television channels but rather saints and poets and — yes — conquering kings. We built the Royal Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens in this city, and we built the Lahore Fort with its mighty walls and wide ramp for our battle-elephants. And we did these things when your country was still a collection of thirteen small colonies, gnawing away at the edge of a continent.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“The mountain trembled like an earthquake. Dust flew into the sky. And the rock turned dark red, like the color of blood'.

'How would you know?' Asks Sindhi cap. 'You only have a black and white television'.

'But it's a very good one. You can almost see colours.”
― Mohsin Hamid, Moth Smoke

“Maximum return was the maxim to which we returned.”
― Mohsin Hamid

“There's a reason prophets perform miracles; language lacks the power to describe faith.”
― Mohsin Hamid