“We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.”
―
―
“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention. And yet it is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.”
― Why I Write
― Why I Write
“To the dumb question "Why me?" the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: why not?”
― Mortality
― Mortality
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Letters to a Young Contrarian
― Letters to a Young Contrarian
Hassan’s 2025 Year in Books
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