I think I've always been drawn to the second person. When I was growing up and playing with my friends, the usual way we interacted with imaginary worlds was as characters: a bench was 'your' boat, leaves on a lawn were the fins of sharks out to get 'you.' Mohsin Hamid benchboatcharacter share on social
We need a self because the complexity of the chemical processes that make up our individual humanities exceeds the processing power of our brains. Mohsin Hamid brainchemicalcomplexity Change image and share on social
Love places someone else in the centre of your being and your own self is blurred. Mohsin Hamid blurcentrelove Change image and share on social
Capitalism is like the law of the jungle with a few rules. There isn't another system that works for our society but left unchecked, capitalism can have a dehumanising effect. Mohsin Hamid capitalismdehumaniseeffect Change image and share on social
I've realized that it's important to stop trying to think I'm any one thing. People are confused as to their identity and try to cling to one aspect of that identity to describe what they are: American, Republican, Muslim. These are really incomplete. Mohsin Hamid americanaspectcling share on social
I was 30 when 9/11 happened and I had lived exactly 15 years of life in America, so I was half American. I was a full-fledged New Yorker. Mohsin Hamid americaamericanfledge Change image and share on social
Being outside the candy store looking in is the state of people today. Whether you're in a Pakistani village watching somebody in a car drive by, or you're in the city of Lahore going to a restaurant and seeing somebody with a security entourage coming in... you're exposed to people with more. Mohsin Hamid candycarcity share on social
Lived religion is a very different thing from strict textual analysis. Very few people of any faith live their lives as literalist interpretations of scripture. Mohsin Hamid analysisfaithinterpretation Change image and share on social
A reader should encounter themselves in a novel, I think. Mohsin Hamid encounterreader Change image and share on social
I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence so I can hear the sound of the words. Mohsin Hamid hearlistenmusic Change image and share on social