Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Kamila Shamsie

Quote by Kamila Shamsie

Work

Author

Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie

Kamila Shamsie is a renowned Pakistani novelist whose contemporary fiction has garnered international acclaim. Born in 1973, she is recognized for her insightful narratives that delve into themes of identity, politics, and cultural conflict in the modern world. more

You May Also Like

“What if someone had the potential to discover a formula to unlock the mysteries of the universe wanted to become a pulp fiction writer? What if someone who had the potential to create unparalleled gastronomic delicacies had his heart set on civil engineering? There is what we desire to do, and what we are able to do. When those two things don't coincide, which path should we pursue to find happiness?”

“Desire changes its character by 180 degrees. Often, when first aroused, it is felt as the desire to have. The desire to touch is, partly, the desire to lay hands on, to take. Later, transformed, the same desire becomes the desire to be taken, to lose oneself within the desired. From these two opposed moments come one of the dialectics of desire; both moments apply to both sexes and they oscillate. Clearly the second moment, the desire to lose oneself within, is the most abandoned, the most desperate, and it is the one that Caravaggio chose (or was compelled) to reveal in many of his paintings.”