Mohsin Hamid Quotes

One thing you can't intend is how you will be read. I hear it said a lot that my books are about the 'search for identity', and this is said admiringly, as if I meant to encourage such a search.

I've never, ever labeled myself.

I know for myself, and maybe I'm weird or whatever, but the whole thing is about constantly redefining identity.

My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there. At least that's what I would choose to believe.

I think people who struggle to define themselves might never be satisfied because there is no definition. Living with responsibility is important, but I don't really think you have to grow up.

I'm just getting to know myself. I'm no wherwhere near to being concise about it yet. I can't define myself. Wait a minute - I'm angry, I'm funny and I'm trying.

Identity has several parts, and the self needs to expand. Black youth should be encouraged to have as many parts or as rich an identity as possible. It's a form of allowing them to be curious about the world.

But this show reminds me that there are other aspects to me besides the fact that I'm a funny chick.

If you are fragmented and uncertain, it is terrifying to find the boundaries of yourself melt.

So many people go through life, and they never deal with their own issues, no matter what the issues are - ours happen to be gender identity. But, how many people go through life and just waste an entire life 'cause they'd never deal with themselves to be who they are.

I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy.

My problem was I let myself become known before I knew myself.

I worry that if I enjoy something - like the songs on 'Some Nights' are about wondering about who you are. I'm never quite sure and I'd hate to feel sort of content and get a good sense of who I am because if I know one thing, that's not me. I don't mind not necessarily being happy about it. And that's fine.

Throughout my life, I have grappled with my own identity, who I am. As a young child, I often felt ambivalent about myself, in fact, confused.

One of my problems is to find the self.

You don't just wake up one day and decide who you are. I hope that people see that it's okay not to have labels nor label anyone else. Step back. We're all just trying to figure it out.

If your sense of self is destabilised, to imagine being another becomes pretty easy.

The world can't tell you who you are. You've just got to figure out who you are and be there, for better or worse.

I'm okay with myself. I had times when I was 15 about 'Who I am?' and 'What am I?' and where I want to go, and that's behind me.

I don't know what else I would be if I wasn't me. I am not looking from the outside, looking back. I am who I am.

I'm asked all the time in interviews about who I am, and I know a few people my age who have a strong sense of self, but I couldn't say I know myself and sum it up and give it to you in a little package. I don't know myself at all yet.

How you define yourself is a major issue for young people and adults alike.

I feel it's important to show that one thing that you do doesn't define you as a human being. It doesn't mean there aren't ramifications or you shouldn't pay for that but its not who you are.

A lot of people come to L.A. looking for something. What I came here for, I realize now, is to be okay with myself.

Then, at some point, you get identified with certain things.