I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.
Mohsin HamidRead
There is a huge sense of loneliness as people leave villages and move to cities. It's hard to find that human connection as you move away from where you started.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the feeling of loneliness that accompanies the migration from rural areas to urban settings and the loss of human connection.
Mohsin Hamid's quote emphasizes the emotional toll of urban migration, where individuals often experience a profound sense of isolation as they leave their close-knit communities in villages. This transition to the anonymity of city life can lead to challenges in forming meaningful relationships, underscoring the importance of human connections in our lives.
Themes
LonelinessHuman ConnectionMigrationUrban LifeCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about urban development, one might include this quote to emphasize the importance of fostering community.
More from Mohsin Hamid
All quotes βWhen the forces are aligning against hybridity, it harms everyone, as we are all migrants. Growing up in Pakistan, I know just how oppressive that kind of puritanical mindset can be.
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Some of my relatives held on to imagined memories the way homeless people hold onto lottery tickets. Nostalgia was their crack cocaine, if you will, and my childhood was littered with the consequences of their addiction : unserviceable debts, squabbles over inheritances, the odd alcoholic or suicide.
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Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable.
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I think there's a growing courage among the younger generation of American writers. Because of the more superficial treatment of characters taking place in cinema, they have had to deal with that by digging deeper into who these people are.
Mohsin HamidRead
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 HamidRead
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