Home > Author > Hanif Kureishi
41 " I’ve said before, Harry, no need to hide your light,” said Alice, squeezing his hand. She giggled, “Dance, monkey, dance. "
― Hanif Kureishi , The Last Word
42 " I admired him more than anyone but I didn't wish him well. It was that I preferred him to me and wanted to be him. I coveted his talents, face, style. I wanted to wake up with them all transferred to me. "
― Hanif Kureishi , The Buddha of Suburbia
43 " How many artists have created while drunk, high on laudanum, opium, chloral or amphetamines? What have antidepressants ever done for culture? "
44 " Dear God, teach me to be careless. "
― Hanif Kureishi , Intimacy
45 " I know love is dark work; you have to get your hands dirty. If you hold back, nothing interesting happens. At the same time, you have to find the right distance between people. Too close, and they overwhelm you; too far and they abandon you. How to hold them in the right relation? "
46 " I can only think how good life on earth can be, at times. What grief two people can give to one another! And what pleasure! "
47 " My son, there may be a time when I explain these things to you, because there may be a time when I understand them. "
48 " Now, watching her sleep, and closing his eyes, he felt, in this particular intimacy - stowed beneath her duvet - that he was intruding. At the same time, he knew, settling down, you couldn´t dislike anyone you'd seen sleep "
― Hanif Kureishi , The Black Album
49 " Yet velvet curtains, soft cheese, compelling work and boys who can run full-tilt—it isn't enough. And if it isn't, it isn't. There's no living with that. The world is made from our imagination; our eyes enliven it, as our hands give it shape. Wanting makes it thrive; meaning is what you put in, not what you extract. You only see what you are inclined to see, and no more. We have to make the new. "
― Hanif Kureishi
50 " Security and safety were the reward of dullness. "
51 " When Victor Hugo was buried, you couldn’t find a whore in all of Paris. They were too busy paying their respects. That was a man – and he still has a show on in the West End. "
52 " At the same time, you have to find the right distance between people. Too close, and they overwhelm you, too far and they abandon you. How to hold them in the right relation? "
53 " Soon we will be strangers. No, we can never be that. Hurting someone is an act of reluctant intimacy. We will be dangerous acquaintances with a history. "
54 " How disturbing it is that our illusions are often our most important beliefs. "
55 " The cruellest thing you can do to Kerouac is reread him at thirty-eight. "
56 " Love cannot be measured by its duration... "
57 " Without love, most of life remains concealed. Nothing is as fascinating as love, unfortunately. "
58 " I don't want to be loved. I want to be desired. Love is safety, but desire is foul. "
― Hanif Kureishi , Something to Tell You
59 " Please remove your watch,' he said. 'In my domain time isn't a factor. "
60 " At the deepest level people are madder than they want to believe. You will find that they fear being eaten, and are alarmed by their desire to devour others. "