Rabih Alameddine

“Every writer uses his own way to motivate oneself.”

“I wonder whether there is such a thing as a sense of individuality. Is it all a facade, covering a deep need to belong? Are we simply pack animals desperately trying to pretend we are not?”

“I always assumed that everyone knew no country would ever be awarded a World Cup without pricey gifts exchanging hands under the tables.”

“My father loved Brazilian football, a diehard follower, so of course, he hated Germany and always rooted against them, always.”

“On Lou's lips a trace of pinot and out of them poured tales of acts of viciousness worthy of the great Lucifer himself, stories told through the night, the tortures, the beatings, the broken bones, every school has its Tigellinus, but his had more than one and each with followers, all-American boys who delighted in discovering how much pain a soul could withstand, two suicide attempts and all his parents and school could do was try to make Lou change his behavior, his behavior, his behavior, his, his, his, to modify his being just a bit. It gets better, Doc, fucking gets better, no one dared suggest that maybe the family and the school should change, or heaven forbid, that it was the all-Americans who should be modifying their beings, no, the homo should grin and bear it dumbly...”

“I always say show me a storyteller who doesn't embellish, and I'll show you a bad one.”

“I was a tourist in a bizarre land. I was home.”

“In every evocation of a childhood scene, my stepfather's face is the least detailed, the most out of focus; when I think of him my memory's eyes have cataracts.”

“In 1975, I left the burning city of Beirut for the quiet insanity of England. To say that short, frail and wispy 15-year-old me didn't fit in would be such an understatement as to be a joke.”

“Whenever I come across an Arabic word mired in English text, I am momentarily shocked out of the narrative.”

“How can I expect readers to know who I am if I do not tell them about my family, my friends, the relationships in my life? Who am I if not where I fit in the world, where I fit in the lives of the people dear to me?”

“I was a lonely boy. I spent all my time reading books and watching the world. [some] tried to draw me out at first, but their hearts weren't in it. And after all, they had enough troubles of their own.”

“We rarely consider that we're also formed by the decisions we didn't make, by events that could have happened but didn't, or by our lack of choices, for that matter.”

“I can easily hold two opposing beliefs at the same time without any problem, which I find - well, mind-expanding, really.”

“The receding perspective of my past smothers my present. Remembering is the malignancy that feasts on my now.”

“I gave up on the delusion that these players enjoy soccer as much as I do, that they play for the love of the game.”

“I have to admit, I'm not patriotic. It has partly to do with principle, but it is also a phobia/neurosis.”

“A team without hope fizzles: no flameout, no fire.”

“Close friends consider me a literary snob.”

“If you go through any culture that has had wars, go to the bomb shelters, and you'll hear some amazing stories. Yes, it's a necessary thing that we actually both distract ourselves and it's a way to bond.”