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" One of the frustrations of prison life, which is also one of its intended consequences, is that the prisoner is made ineffective. He is unable to be of much use. The aim is to render him powerless. "

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" 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. "

Hisham Matar

Life

Powerful

Reflection

" Language is not just a code; you are writing into its history, into its tides. "

" 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! "

" Whenever I was encouraged by my elders to pick up a book, I was often told, 'Read so as to know the world.' And it is true; books have invited me into different countries, states of mind, social conditions and historical epochs; they have offered me a place at the most unusual gatherings. "

Hisham Matar

Book

Mind

" As a young boy in Libya, it was hard to escape the conclusion that the women were the most feeling and most functional part of society. "

" 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. "

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

" Over the centuries, close-knit tribes have played an important part in the cohesion of Libyan society. "

" Dreams have consequences. "

Hisham Matar

Dreams

Consequences

" From my family alone, Qaddafi had imprisoned five men. "

" The cost of Colonel Gaddafi's rule on Libyan society is incalculable. "

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

" Like all novelists, I'm interested in the filters between reality and the imagination. "

Hisham Matar

Imagination

Interested

" 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. "

Hisham Matar

Think

Speak

" 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. "

" 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 before I was born, we Arabs have been caught between two forces that, seemingly, cannot be defeated: our ruthless dictators, who oppress and humiliate us, and the cynical western powers, who would rather see us ruled by criminals loyal to them than have democratically elected leaders accountable to us. "

" We have defeated Gaddafi on the battlefield; now we must defeat him in our imagination. We must not allow his legacy to corrupt our dream. Let's keep focused on the true prize: unity, democracy, and the rule of law. Let's not seek revenge; that would diminish our future. "

" Like most dictators, Col Gaddafi detests the metropolis. His vision of Libya is a kind of Bedouin romantic medievalism, suspicious of universities, theatres, galleries and cafes, and so monitors the cities' inhabitants with paranoid suspicion. "

" In Libya, I did well at school because I was clever. In Egyptian public school, I got the highest marks for the basest of reasons. And in the American school, I struggled. Everything - mathematics, the sciences, pottery, swimming - had to be conducted in a language I hardly knew and that was neither spoken in the streets nor at home. "

" 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. "

" We got rid of Muammar Gaddafi. I never thought I would be able to write these words. "

" When I was 12 years old, living in Cairo, my parents enrolled me in the American school. Most of the Americans there appeared oddly stifled, determined to remain, if not physically then sentimentally, back in the United States. "

Hisham Matar

Living

American

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

" I don't believe people are interested in dates and facts. I don't think it is interesting to say what it is to be this person or that, but I do believe it is entertaining and perhaps even of value to express how it is to be that person. "

" My parents left Libya in 1979, escaping political repression, and settled in Cairo. I was nine. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Great writing fills me with hopeful enthusiasm and never envy. "