126 Quotes by Hisham Matar

I am of the firm opinion that no one should tell writers what to do, or what to write, or how to write.

There are times when my father’s absence is as heavy as a child sitting on my chest.

The three things that help writing the most are living, writing, and reading. In that order.

The world had to be sliced into hours to fill; otherwise you could go mad with loneliness.

At that time I would read passages of Father’s books or a newspaper article that I was certain he had read because I wanted to follow a trail he had taken.

Suddenly he is beside me. I do not know how, but we are the same age. There is something tragic about this fact.

I wanted everything good in the world for him; every dream he had, all of his secret plans, to come true. I suddenly was glad that Mona was his.

It’s not your job to read their hearts,′ he once told me after I claimed, with shameful certainty, that begging was a profession. ‘Your duty is not to doubt but to give.

Perhaps the world is fair and balanced after all; no one gains and no one loses or no one gains and everyone loses equally.