Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Mohsin Hamid

Quote by Mohsin Hamid

“(A revolver is) just a tool, really, like stapler. A stapler that punch through a person. Pin them. Drive blunt metal through flesh and bone.”

Quote by Mohsin Hamid

Work

Moth Smoke

Moth Smoke is a novel that delves into the complexities of addiction and the societal decay during the British colonial period in India. The story is set against the backdrop of a small Indian town, where the protagonist grapples with his personal demons and the broader issues of his time. more

Author

Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani-British writer born in Karachi in 1971. His works often explore themes of globalization, identity, and modernity. Hamid's debut novel, 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist,' published in 2001, received widespread acclaim and earned him numerous awards. His other notable works include 'How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia' and 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'. more

You May Also Like

“His chief delights were of a less public and philanthropic kind, requiring many explanations of sounds which seemed peculiar even amidst that babel of the damned. Among these sounds were frequent revolver-shots—surely not uncommon on a battlefield, but distinctly uncommon in an hospital. Dr. West’s reanimated specimens were not meant for long existence or a large audience.”

“Whether he remained here, or found a means to leave, he ought certainly to possess himself of the best possible weapons. By the term Mr. Lecky understood some sort of firearm. The fact that he was totally unacquainted with the use of guns assisted him in the illusion that, given a revolver, he would instantly become formidable. Trusting machines as he did, he regarded a revolver as a small killing machine. He believed that its operation required little more than pointing and pulling a trigger. The revolver would obediently deliver, unerring and fast as light, death to a great distance.”

“May be the power lies in the hands of the one who holds the gun... so he just presses the trigger whenever the slightest streak of anger passes his mind... and after a few haunting days he roams freely in the country without fear .. and what about the one who faces the wrath and bears the bullets? He leaves a movement behind... but haven't such movements always been ephemeral? Is death the price you need to pay to open the eyes of those who care but just for a couple of days?”

“This is Bad. Sindbad, I mean." I'd wanted to name him after a great explorer, but none of them seemed to fit. Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley were obvious choices (Mr. Locke so admired them he even had Stanley's own revolver on display in his office, a narrow-nosed Enfield that he cleaned and oiled on a weekly basis), but they made me think of that shriveled African arm in its glass case. Magellan was too long, Drake too boring, Columbus too bumbling; in the end I'd named him after the only explorer who rendered the world stranger and more wondrous with each voyage.”