Nothing we read can import new or foreign feelings that we don't, in one form or another, already possess.

I am terribly interested in the paragraph: the paragraph as an object, the construction, and the possibilities of what a paragraph can do.

I've never thought of myself in terms of an identity. I'm always baffled when I encounter someone who gives the impression about being confident about a particular defined identity.

One of the dark truths about dictators - and it applies to Gaddafi - is that on some level, they love their people. But it is a strange love. It says, 'I love you for me; I don't love you for you.' That rhymes with a certain kind of Libyan father who was always certain about what was good for those around him. Those fathers lose in the end.

When a dictatorship imprisons someone or makes them disappear, it's actually a very strategic move. We forget that. It's not as senseless as it seems. It's a way to silence someone, but also it's a way to silence their family as well, out of fear, and society by extension.

I lost my father when I was 19, so the majority of my life has been under this cloud, and I have been full of the intention to find out what happened.

I used to believe that it was not possible to lose someone I loved without sensing it somehow, without feeling something shift. But it's not true. People can die, sometimes the closest people to us, without us noticing a thing.

I've never been particularly interested in genre distinctions. They seem to me more useful to a librarian than to a writer.

I used to be a keen rider. Sometimes I could sense what a horse liked or preferred to do.

I've always said - I've always said I'm not, by temperament, a romantic about revolutions or given to revolutions. I've always thought that they are not the ideal way to change.

My father, the political dissident Jaballa Matar, disappeared from his home in Cairo in March 1990.

My parents were fairly laid-back, but there were certain things about which they were very strict. My brother and I were told never to turn away a person in need. And it didn't matter what we thought of their motives, whether they were truly in need or not.

I think my generation's inability to speak in absolute terms when it comes to politics is a very positive thing; it's made us more nuanced, made us more complex.

When you've been living in hope for a long time as I have, suddenly you realize that certainty is far more desirable than hope.

Some of the most powerful memories are those when you are very, very young. Adult life is seen through the reflection of complex, rational thought.

Living in hope is a really terrible thing.

There's something very bizarre about having a father who has disappeared. It's very hard to articulate.

I sometimes wonder if I would have become a writer if what happened to my father hadn't happened.

There are two voices: the first says write; the second hardly speaks, but I know what he wants. And if I let him, nothing would get done. He hovers at the edges.

I ultimately write for myself and the people I love.

My father believed in armed struggle.

Audacity, hope, courage - the Libyans have these in abundance. But all those boring little things - like organization, building a committee - is hard; making decisions and moving ahead is hard.

From my family alone, Qaddafi had imprisoned five men.

Political dictatorships take possession not just of money and belongings but of narrative.

For an overwhelming majority of my life, my country has been a source of pain, fear, and embarrassment.

Throughout my entire life, I have lived in the shadow of the dictatorship. It denied me safety and security.

I am longing to see Libya rejoin the world as the internationalist Mediterranean country that it was.

Being my father's son is a kind of privilege.

To be okay with not knowing is a sign of a mature person and a mature society.

My work is my shelter, particularly in these moments when things are happening fast.

One of the reasons why Gadafy's dictatorship has managed to remain in power for so long is not just because it has shown itself to be able to exact a great deal of violence, both psychological and physical, on its people, but because it has been very successful at imposing a narrative, a story.

To me, writing is like singing in the most inappropriate place, singing as beautifully as you can on a bus or in a bank, where people least expect it, and trying to get them to want to listen.

There is a tendency to over-exaggerate and over-romanticise the place of a writer in a revolution. That bothers me. I think it's inappropriate.

Making something of loss is, on some level, satisfying.

There's always a problem when you write, something you're trying to resolve, and sometimes a view can be inspiring.

I think, ultimately, I am a sensualist and an aesthete.

The romantic idea of the penniless writer is false. It's terrible. I hated being in debt. I hated the anxiety of not knowing whether we could pay our rent that month. Thankfully, I had a wife who was very supportive and had faith and shared my madness.

I've very aware of my rootlessness.

The Qaddafis, father and sons, speak the grammar of dictatorship: threats and bribery.

I hope and pray that I'll be one of those fortunate people who have many, many books to write. I don't begrudge writing. I love the whole thing!

When I'm writing, my mood is very good - and I love life.