Skip to main content

8 Hanif Kureishi Quotes fit for a Buddha

By December 5, 2018Authors, Quotations

Hanif Kureishi (5th December 1954) is a British novelist, playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker of Pakistani and English descent. He’s written many novels and short story collections, but is maybe best known for the Buddha of Suburbia, his first novel, which was also adapted as a four part mini-series of the same name.

Born in Bromley South London to a Pakistani father and an English mother, His father harboured dreams of writing but his ambitions were never realised. In contrast, his son Hanif is considered to be one of the greatest British writers and actually made the Times list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”.

Today to mark the author’s birthday we’re sharing some of our favourite quotes from the author.

“Love cannot be measured by its duration…”

From Intimacy

“The cruellest thing you can do to Kerouac is reread him at thirty-eight.”

From the Buddha of Suburbia

“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?”

From Intimacy

“The vocation of each writer is to describe the world as he or she sees it; anything more than that is advertising.”

From the Word and the Bomb

“And silence, like darkness, can be kind; it, too, is a language”

From Intimacy

“So badly did he not want to fuck it up, he could only fuck it up.”

From Something to Tell You

“Fundamentalism is dictatorship of the mind”

From the Word and the Bomb

“Maybe you never stop feeling like an eight-year-old in front of your parents. You resolve to be your mature self, to react in this considered way rather than that elemental way, to breathe evenly from the bottom of your stomach and to see your parents as equals, but within five minutes your intentions are blown to hell, and you’re babbling and screaming in rage like an angry child.”

From the Buddha of Suburbia

Leave your vote

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.