Home / Authors / Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini Quotes

Novelist

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American novelist, best known for his novel 'The Kite Runner,' which has become a global bestseller. The story, centered around themes of friendship, betrayal, and redemption, has resonated with readers worldwide. Hosseini's works often focus on the history and culture of Afghanistan, as well as the complexities of human nature.

Filter quotes by topic

All Afghanistan People Ifs Kites Stories Thinking Knows War Way Writing Runners Book Children Years Has Beens Men Said World Afghan Kabul

Famous Khaled Hosseini Quotes

“A creative writing teacher at San Jose State used to say about clichés: 'Avoid them like the plague.' Then he'd laugh at his own joke. The class laughed along with him, but I always thought clichés got a bum rap. Because, often, they're dead-on. But the aptness of the clichéd saying is overshadowed by the nature of the saying as a cliché.”

Writing Creativity

Book:The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

“I will use a flower petal for paper, And write you the sweetest letter,”

Love Writing Flower Lovers Write Sweetest Petal

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I entered the literary world, really, from outside. My entire background has been in sciences; I was a biology major in college, then went to medical school. I've never had any formal training in writing. So what I know about writing, I know from my own instincts, and whatever the narrative voice is in my own head.”

Knows World Writing Has Beens School Voice My Own College Majors Training Instinct Medical Backgrounds Narrative Biology Formal Medical School Narrative Voice

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I grew up with some kind of storytelling instinct, and when I write, my default setting is to find a story and then to tell it. It's the only way I know how to write.”

Knows Way Writing Kind Stories Know How Grew Grew Up Instinct Setting Storytelling Settings Default

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“The things that have always drawn me to the craft of writing is character, it's story, it's something that becomes like a pebble in my shoe, a voice that I just can't get rid of, and I've got to see it through.”

Writing Character Stories Voice Shoes Crafts Pebbles

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I think novelists, when they write their books, end up having occasionally serving a purpose and playing roles that they never really fully either intended or even understood.”

Thinking Writing Book Ends Purpose Roles Understood Novelists Serving Playing Roles

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I don't know the nuts and bolts of writing. I studied medicine. I was a pre-med nerd. So everything I learned, I know about writing is very instinctive.”

Knows Writing Medicine Nuts Nerd Bolts Meds Nuts And Bolts

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“All stories I write are compulsive. Anything I’ve ever written was because I don’t have a choice. I write stories because I can’t wait to tell it, I can’t wait to see how it ends.”

Writing I Can Ends Stories Choices Waiting Written Because I Can

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“Writing for me is largely about rewriting.”

Writing Rewriting

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I don't listen to music when I write - I find it distracting.”

Writing Listening To Music Manuscripts

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“My wife is my in-home editor and reads everything I write.”

Writing Home Wife My Wife Editors

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“There isn't, even now, a great tradition of novel-writing in Afghanistan. Most of the literature is in the form of poetry.”

Writing Form Literature Novel Tradition Afghanistan Novel Writing

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“The experience of writing 'The Kite Runner' is one I will always think back on with fondness. There is an energy, a romance in writing the first novel that can never be duplicated again.”

Thinking Writing Firsts Romance Energy Novel Runners Kites Fondness

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“Though The Kite Runner was my first completed novel, I had been writing on and off for most of my life, primarily short stories, and primarily for myself.”

Writing Firsts Stories Novel Short Story Runners And Off Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“There is an energy, a romance in writing the first novel that can never be duplicated again. I was entirely absorbed in that world as I wrote the book [The Kite Runner] and to see the final page of that manuscript whir out of the printer was a very special feeling indeed.”

World Writing Firsts Book Feelings Romance Energy Novel Special Pages Finals Runners Manuscripts Kites Printer

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I found myself sitting at the computer, and I thought I was going to write a kind of simple nostalgic story about two boys and their love of kite fighting. But stories have a will of their own, and this one turned out to be this dark tale about betrayal, loss, regret. The short story which was about 25 pages long sat around for a couple of years.”

Writing Years Kind Long Two Stories Fighting Found Dark Loss Simple Boys Regret Couple Computer Pages Sitting Betrayal Tales Sat Short Story Nostalgic Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“Even after The Kite Runner was published I continued to practice for another eighteen months. But I had always had a love of writing and a compulsion to do it.”

Writing Practice Months Runners Compulsion Eighteen Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“By then The Kite Runner had become quite successful and I found myself in a position that I had always dreamed of my whole life, which was to write for a living.”

Writing Whole Found Successful Position Whole Life Runners Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history.”

Writing War Wanted Modern Periods Forgotten Afghanistan Soviet Afghan

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I get daily e-mails from Afghans who thank me for writing this book [The Kite Runner], as they feel a slice of their story has been told by one of their own. So, for the most part, I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of my fellow Afghans.”

Feels Writing Has Beens Book Stories Kindness Fellows Mail Runners Overwhelmed Kites

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“I would give them (aspiring writers) the oldest advice in the craft: Read and write. Read a lot. Read new authors and established ones, read people whose work is in the same vein as yours and those whose genre is totally different. You've heard of chain-smokers. Writers, especially beginners, need to be chain-readers. And lastly, write every day. Write about things that get under your skin and keep you up at night.”

People Needs Giving Writing Different Night Heard Advice Reader Skins Crafts Chains Genre Veins Beginners Smokers Genre Is Aspiring Writers

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“It's often a matter of sitting in front of the computer and worrying. It's what writing comes down to--worrying that things aren't going to work out.”

Writing Matter Worry Fronts Computer Sitting Work Out Going To Work

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.”

Writing Lying Fiction Greater Series Writing Fiction Weaving

Author:Khaled Hosseini

“The short of it is, as an aspiring writer, there is nothing as damaging to your credibility as saying that you don't like to read.”

Writing Credibility Aspiring Writers

Author:Khaled Hosseini

About the Author

Born: March 4, 1965
Known for: Novelist
Quotes: 466

Related Topics

Afghanistan People Ifs Kites Stories Thinking Knows War Way Writing Runners Book Children Years Has Beens Men Said World Afghan Kabul

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

A Thousand Splendid SunsRelated source material

And the Mountains EchoedRelated source material

The Kite RunnerRelated source material

The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box setRelated source material

The Kite Runner: RejacketedRelated source material

Sea PrayerRelated source material

Mil Soles EspléndidosRelated source material

The Kite Runner: Graphic NovelRelated source material

Book Club in a Box Presents the Discussion Companion for Khaled Hosseini's Novel The Kite RunnerRelated source material

The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid SunsRelated source material

Similar Authors

Hamid KarzaiBrowse related quotes
Ahmed RashidBrowse related quotes
Masha HamiltonBrowse related quotes
Mohsen MakhmalbafBrowse related quotes
Hyder AkbarBrowse related quotes
Eliza GriswoldBrowse related quotes
Najibullah QuraishiBrowse related quotes
John R. AllenBrowse related quotes
Michael HastingsBrowse related quotes
Paul AusterBrowse related quotes