Quotes by Hisham Matar - Page 2

There is a tendency to over-exaggerate and over-romanticise the place of a writer in a revolution. That bothers me. I think it's inappropriate.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Inappropriate
Revolution
Bothers
Tendency
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I hope and pray that I'll be one of those fortunate people who have many, many books to write. I don't begrudge writing. I love the whole thing!
Hisham Matar / Writer
Pray
Love Hope People
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My earliest memory of books is not of reading but of being read to. I spent hours listening, watching the face of the person reading aloud to me.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Aloud
Earliest
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Some of the most powerful memories are those when you are very, very young. Adult life is seen through the reflection of complex, rational thought.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Memories
Most Powerful
Rational
Reflection
Young Adult
Adult Life
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I lost my father when I was 19, so the majority of my life has been under this cloud, and I have been full of the intention to find out what happened.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Intention
Life Father My Life
Cloud
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My family settled in Cairo in 1980. I was nine. I missed Libya terribly, but I also took to Cairo. I perfected the accent. People assumed I was Egyptian.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Egyptian
Libya
Nine
Accent
Assumed
Terribly
Missed
Settled
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Nothing makes you feel more stupid than learning a new language. You lose your confidence. You want to disappear. Not be noticed. Say as little as possible.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Confidence
Disappear
Stupid
Noticed
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I think my generation's inability to speak in absolute terms when it comes to politics is a very positive thing; it's made us more nuanced, made us more complex.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Inability
Absolute
Complex
Generation
Positive Thing
Terms
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There are two voices: the first says write; the second hardly speaks, but I know what he wants. And if I let him, nothing would get done. He hovers at the edges.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Edges
Hardly
Speaks
Voices
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Gaddafi's ability to have survived so long rests on his convenient position in not being committed to a single ideology and his use of violence in such a theatrical way.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Committed
Convenient
Gaddafi
Ideology
Survived
Theatrical
Rests
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Libyans are deeply unsettled by Gaddafi and his regime's careless contempt for human life. The dictatorship is willing to employ any methods necessary to remain in power.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Careless
Contempt
Dictatorship
Gaddafi
Human Life
Employ
Unsettled
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A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle between rage and hope, between the temptation to destroy and the desire to build.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Desire
Gates
March
Painless
Rage
Revolution
Struggle
Temptation
Build
Destroy
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I've always said - I've always said I'm not, by temperament, a romantic about revolutions or given to revolutions. I've always thought that they are not the ideal way to change.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Temperament
Revolutions
Ideal
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I've never thought of myself in terms of an identity. I'm always baffled when I encounter someone who gives the impression about being confident about a particular defined identity.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Baffled
Defined
Identity
Impression
Particular
Myself Always Never
Confident
Encounter
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When I first began writing In the Country of Men all I had was the voice of the protagonist. He intrigued me and my desire to want to know him and his world became almost compulsive.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Men
Country
Writing
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In 2006, I published my first novel, 'In the Country of Men.' The publication of the book gave me a bigger platform to speak about my father's abduction and Libya's human-rights record.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Libya
Publication
Men Father Me
Platform
Published
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In the same way that Egypt and Libya conspired to 'disappear' my father and silence writers such as Idris Ali, they made me, too, to a far lesser extent, feel punished for speaking out.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Disappear
Egypt
Libya
Silence
Ali
Extent
Father Me Way
Lesser
Lesser Extent
Punished
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To me, writing is like singing in the most inappropriate place, singing as beautifully as you can on a bus or in a bank, where people least expect it, and trying to get them to want to listen.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Bus
Inappropriate
Where Me People
Bank
Beautifully
Me Singing People
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Audacity, hope, courage - the Libyans have these in abundance. But all those boring little things - like organization, building a committee - is hard; making decisions and moving ahead is hard.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Abundance
Audacity
Little Things
Making Decisions
Committee
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One of the frustrations of prison life, which is also one of its intended consequences, is that the prisoner is made ineffective. He is unable to be of much use. The aim is to render him powerless.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Aim
Powerless
Prisoner
Consequences
Frustrations
Ineffective
Intended
Render
Unable
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Books written out of fire give me a great deal of pleasure. You get the sense that the world for these writers could not have continued if the book hadn't been written. When you come across a book like that it is a privilege.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Book
Fire
Giving
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When I was 12 years old, living in Cairo, my parents enrolled me in the American school. Most of the Americans there appeared oddly stifled, determined to remain, if not physically then sentimentally, back in the United States.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Determined
Physically
Appeared
Enrolled
Oddly
Stifled
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I used to believe that it was not possible to lose someone I loved without sensing it somehow, without feeling something shift. But it's not true. People can die, sometimes the closest people to us, without us noticing a thing.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Closest
Noticing
Sensing
Shift
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The space where writing happens is a unique space that's hard to define, and when you're kicked out of it because you're travelling or distracted, it seems so elusive and hard to defend because you yourself doubt whether it existed.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Distracted
Elusive
Defend
Define
Existed
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I don't believe people are interested in dates and facts. I don't think it is interesting to say what it is to be this person or that, but I do believe it is entertaining and perhaps even of value to express how it is to be that person.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Entertaining
Believe Value People
Dates
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Turgenev's achievement lies in how he succeeded, in spite of himself, his country, and his time, in exempting his work from public duty. This has given it that unnameable quality that makes every sentence true, every silence trustworthy.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Achievement
Silence
Spite
Trustworthy
Sentence
Succeeded
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Like most dictators, Col Gaddafi detests the metropolis. His vision of Libya is a kind of Bedouin romantic medievalism, suspicious of universities, theatres, galleries and cafes, and so monitors the cities' inhabitants with paranoid suspicion.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Romantic
Cities
Gaddafi
Libya
Metropolis
Suspicion
Vision
Dictators
Galleries
Inhabitants
Universities
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The romantic idea of the penniless writer is false. It's terrible. I hated being in debt. I hated the anxiety of not knowing whether we could pay our rent that month. Thankfully, I had a wife who was very supportive and had faith and shared my madness.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Debt
Madness
Not Knowing
Supportive
Month
False
Rent
Shared
Thankfully
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My parents were fairly laid-back, but there were certain things about which they were very strict. My brother and I were told never to turn away a person in need. And it didn't matter what we thought of their motives, whether they were truly in need or not.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Strict
Fairly
Certain Things
Motives
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We have defeated Gaddafi on the battlefield; now we must defeat him in our imagination. We must not allow his legacy to corrupt our dream. Let's keep focused on the true prize: unity, democracy, and the rule of law. Let's not seek revenge; that would diminish our future.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Defeat
Defeated
Diminish
Gaddafi
Legacy
Prize
Revenge
Rule Of Law
Unity
Battlefield
Corrupt
Seek
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When a dictatorship imprisons someone or makes them disappear, it's actually a very strategic move. We forget that. It's not as senseless as it seems. It's a way to silence someone, but also it's a way to silence their family as well, out of fear, and society by extension.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Dictatorship
Disappear
Silence
Strategic
Extension
Senseless
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Switching languages is a form of conversion. And like all conversions, whether it's judged a failure or a success, it excites the desire to leave, go elsewhere, adopt a new language and start all over again. It also means that a conscious effort is demanded to remain still.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Conscious
Elsewhere
Judged
Switching
Adopt
Conscious Effort
Demanded
Excites
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My best hope is that Libya turns into a peaceful, sensible country that has all the things my father and lots of others have been calling for: independence of the courts and press, a protected and democratic constitution, with different parties involved in a healthy and open debate.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Independence
Calling
Constitution
Debate
Democratic
Healthy
Involved
Libya
Peaceful
Protected
Sensible
Turns
Lots
Courts
Parties
Press
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Whenever I was encouraged by my elders to pick up a book, I was often told, 'Read so as to know the world.' And it is true; books have invited me into different countries, states of mind, social conditions and historical epochs; they have offered me a place at the most unusual gatherings.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Conditions
Different Countries
Elders
Historical
Invited
Social Conditions
Unusual
World Mind Me
Encouraged
Gatherings
Offered
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One of the reasons why Gadafy's dictatorship has managed to remain in power for so long is not just because it has shown itself to be able to exact a great deal of violence, both psychological and physical, on its people, but because it has been very successful at imposing a narrative, a story.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Dictatorship
Imposing
Narrative
Psychological
Exact
Great Deal
Shown
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From before I was born, we Arabs have been caught between two forces that, seemingly, cannot be defeated: our ruthless dictators, who oppress and humiliate us, and the cynical western powers, who would rather see us ruled by criminals loyal to them than have democratically elected leaders accountable to us.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Caught
Criminals
Cynical
Defeated
Humiliate
Loyal
Ruthless
Accountable
Arabs
Democratically
Dictators
Elected
Oppress
Powers
Ruled
Seemingly
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The Arab Spring, with all of its failings and failures, exposed the lie that if we are to live, then we must live as slaves. It was an attempt to undermine not only the orthodoxy of dictatorship but also an international political orthodoxy where every activity must be approved by the profit logic of the 'ledger.'
Hisham Matar / Writer
Activity
Approved
Arab Spring
Dictatorship
Exposed
Logic
Orthodoxy
Profit
Spring
Arab
Attempt
Failings
Undermine
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Growing up in the Libya of the 1970s, I remember the prevalence of local bands who were as much influenced by Arabic musical traditions as by the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But the project of 'Arabisation' soon got to them, too, and western musical instruments were declared forbidden as 'instruments of imperialism.'
Hisham Matar / Writer
Forbidden
Imperialism
Instruments
Libya
Rolling
Rolling Stones
Stones
Arabic
Influenced
Prevalence
Traditions
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Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih, is an eloquent and restrained portrait of one man's exile. It is a rare narrative in that it charts a life divided between England and Sudan. Without a doubt it is one of the finest Arabic novels of the 20th century, and Denys Johnson-Davies' translationdoes the original justice.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Men
Doubt
Justice
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In Libya, I did well at school because I was clever. In Egyptian public school, I got the highest marks for the basest of reasons. And in the American school, I struggled. Everything - mathematics, the sciences, pottery, swimming - had to be conducted in a language I hardly knew and that was neither spoken in the streets nor at home.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Clever
Egyptian
Libya
Mathematics
Pottery
Public School
Streets
Swimming
Hardly
Struggled
Marks
Sciences
Spoken
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Grenfell, the building set on fire with the help of its own face, is a scene of a complex injustice: one that is moral, economic, political, and aesthetic. Not only was the cladding unsafe, it was ugly; not only was it ugly, it was untrue both to the architecture of the building it covered and untrue to its responsibility to human safety.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Architecture
Aesthetic
Covered
Injustice
Safety
Unsafe
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One of the dark truths about dictators - and it applies to Gaddafi - is that on some level, they love their people. But it is a strange love. It says, 'I love you for me; I don't love you for you.' That rhymes with a certain kind of Libyan father who was always certain about what was good for those around him. Those fathers lose in the end.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Gaddafi
Love Good Father
Love Good Always
Dictators
Fathers
In The End
Rhymes
Truths
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I can pinpoint the exact moment when I first began to think about what profession I should go into. It was 1978. I was seven and had just been handed over by the women of my family to the earnest and self-important gatherings of the men. I was no longer the responsibility of my aunts and older female cousins. I was now a man. This was a tragedy.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Earnest
Profession
Tragedy
Family Men Women
Aunts
Cousins
Exact
Family Women Men
Gatherings
Handed
Pinpoint
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Dreams have consequences. There is no turning back. A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle between rage and hope, between the temptation to destroy and the desire to build. Its temperament is desperate. It is a tormented response to the past, to all that has happened, the recalled and unrecalled injustices - for the memory of a revolution reaches much further back than the memory of its protagonists.
Hisham Matar / Writer
Dream
Memories
Struggle
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Hisham Matar Quotes - Page 2

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