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Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini Quotes

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“I remember reading 'The Grapes of Wrath' in high school in 1983. My family had immigrated to the U.S. three years before, and I had spent the better part of the first two years learning English. John Steinbeck's book was the first book I read in English where I had an 'Aha!' moment, namely in the famed turtle chapter.”

YearsFirstsTwoBookMomentsSchoolRememberThreeReadingHigh SchoolMy FamilyTwo YearsThree YearsChaptersWrathGrapesTurtlesLearning EnglishAha Moment
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“The Taliban's acts of cultural vandalism - the most infamous being the destruction of the giant Bamiyan Buddhas - had a devastating effect on Afghan culture and the artistic scene. The Taliban burned countless films, VCRs, music tapes, books, and paintings. They jailed filmmakers, musicians, painters, and sculptors.”

BookFilmCultureEffectsPaintingSceneMusicianDestructionPainterArtisticFilmmakerGiantsTapeBurnedTalibanSculptorsInfamousAfghanVandalismVcr
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“The truth is that no one who hasn't actually experienced the senseless chaos and violence of combat can possibly understand it, but those who have and who try to explain it to the rest of us are offering us a precious gift: a part of their soul that's been scorched in the flames of Hell. It's a little like trying to describe music to the deaf or color to the blind ... to make the irrational somewhat sensible, which is always confusing and frustrating, and ultimately futile.”

TryingLittlesSoulHellViolenceColorTruth IsBlindChaosFlamesCombatSensibleOfferingIrrationalConfusingFrustratingDeafPrecious Gifts
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“My memories of Kabul are vastly different than the way it is when I go there now. My memories are of the final years before everything changed. When I grew up in Kabul, it couldn't be mistaken for Beirut or Tehran, as it was still in a country that's essentially religious and conservative, but it was suprisingly progressive and liberal.”

WayYearsStillsDifferentCountryReligiousMemoriesChangedGrewGrew UpFinalsConservativeProgressiveMistakenTehranBeirutKabul
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“I foresaw my life unfolding as an interminable stretch of nothingness and so I spent my years on Tinos floundering, feeling like a stand-in for myself, a proxy, as though my real self resided elsewhere, waiting to unite someday with this dimmer, more hollow self. I felt marooned. An exile in my own home”

YearsRealSelfFeelingsHomeFeltWaitingMy OwnSomedayElsewhereNothingnessExileHollowUnfoldingReal SelfProxyFlounderingLife Unfolding
Book:And the Mountains Echoed
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“When I was in Afghanistan in 2007, I went from village to village where refugees had returned, and they were living out in the open under tents, sometimes completely exposed to the environment. And they were homeless, which meant they would lose children in the winter to the cold and in the summers in the extreme heat. It's extremely humiliating for them to be homeless, culturally it's very shameful.”

ChildrenSometimesLosesEnvironmentColdSummerWinterExtremesHeatVillageAfghanistanExposedHomelessRefugeeShamefulTentsHumiliating
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“Probably the single most commen response I get from my readesr, be it through e-mails or letters, is that they did not know much, or at times, they're quite frank, they didn't care much about Afghanistan. But they pay attention more after reading these novels, and at times it has triggered this humaitarian spirt: some have donated money or at time times, people have joined humatiarian organizations that work in Afghanistan.”

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Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“People talk about apathy, especially in developed countries. We're kind of lulled into these tranquil lives, and we are pursuing our own thing and there is so much suffering on a mass scale around the world that you kind of become fatalistic. You might think suffering is inevitable, you kind of lose your sense of moral urgency. But there is always something you can do for someone in the world.”

PeopleThinkingWorldKindCountryMightSufferingCan DoLosesMoralMassScalesAround The WorldInevitableApathyUrgencyTranquilDeveloped Country
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“[Barack Obama] is sending more troops [to Afghanistan], but they have also realized that we are not going to win that war through guns and tanks. We have to engage the neighbors, and it is good that there is a non-military strategy in addition to a military strategy. It is, at least, encouraging. Whether it will work or not, the jury is still put.”

StillsWarWinningMilitaryGunStrategyNeighborBarackAfghanistanTroopsTanksJuryMilitary Strategy
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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