My earliest memory of books is not of reading but of being read to. I spent hours listening, watching the face of the person reading aloud to me.

The Arab Spring, with all of its failings and failures, exposed the lie that if we are to live, then we must live as slaves. It was an attempt to undermine not only the orthodoxy of dictatorship but also an international political orthodoxy where every activity must be approved by the profit logic of the 'ledger.'

Civil war is a national crisis and also a private trauma: We suffer it collectively and in isolation.

Hisham Matar Quotes