Dinaw Mengestu Quotes
As for most writers, language is vital for me: a writer's ability to render a fictional world - characters, landscape, emotions - into something original that alters or deepens my understanding of both literature and life.

Quotes to Explore
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I enjoy pushing my characters to the limit. No matter how far out there I go, I look for things that make the characters human.
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I try to live my life in a holistic way, show that all of it intersects because I'm coming from the same place. Now, at the core of it, I'm just trying to connect and be there, so I'm trying to be there for my family, my wife, my kids, my friends.
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There should be more interaction and more confidence building between our various academic institutions just like how there needs to be a confidence building between industry and academics.
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This is where young players today want to land. They want to be NBA players because of the money.
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Incommensurables cannot be compared.
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It's nice not to be too boring.
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All I want is an education, and I am afraid of no one.
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I will never support any tax increase on middle-income earners, ever... If you're not going to eliminate loopholes and exemptions, then I wouldn't support lowering rates.
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But I think we need the international market.
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The good poet sticks to his real loves, those within the realm of possibility. He never tries to hold hands with God or the human race.
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Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?
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Perhaps it would be better not to be a writer, but if you must, then write.
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Sure, I'll have characters drop in and out of books but the main cast of characters always changes. Maybe I'm wrong but I think if had the same joe detective guy or gal, I wouldn't write them as well; I wouldn't do as good a job.
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If I'm not interested in a woman, I'm straight-forward. Right after sex, I usually say, 'I can't do this anymore. Thanks for coming over!'
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America slept because most Americans preferred it that way.
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If you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as immutable historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell.
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What is the purpose of public service? It's to solve problems for the people you represent and certainly in the United States Senate, thinking about your state and thinking about your country as well.
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I took a whole stunt course and pretty much got certified as a stunt driver. It's ridiculous how easy it is once you understand the car and know how to do it.
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Thanks to secondary education and the Internet, we're all knowledgeable now - if knowledge means the accumulation of facts. Curators are those who know how to maneuver around that knowledge.
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We have to have better intelligence. We have to have better interdiction capabilities. And so the issue is not how much we spend or how hard we try; the issue is are we doing it the right way? Are we being smart about it?
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A lot of sexism is just very silly... and the best response is laughter and ridicule.
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I have been absolutely hag-ridden with ambition. If I could wish to have anything in the world it would be to be free of ambition.
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When I was younger, I used to do that a lot: I would hear a part of a song that would really relax me and then put it on repeat. That would send me to sleep. It was quite obvious classical music, people like Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel.
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As for most writers, language is vital for me: a writer's ability to render a fictional world - characters, landscape, emotions - into something original that alters or deepens my understanding of both literature and life.