Monica Ali Quotations

You know how if you're born in a certain situation you always expect your life to run on a steady trajectory? I've never really had a sense of that. I assume that life is going to go up and down.

She touched his hand for the last time. "Oh, Karim, that we have already done. But always there was a problem between us. How can I explain? I wasn't me, and you weren't you. From the very beginning to the very end, we didn't see things. What we did--we made each other up." p. 382

I was always an outsider, always standing outside, observing and trying to figure things out. Which is exactly what you need to do as a writer, I suppose.

Writing is a deeply immersive experience. When the words are flying, the house could be burgled and I wouldn’t notice. I have a low boredom threshold and I like intensity – writing is a way of escaping the quotidian.

A new car is not going to change your life.

I always try to create conflict and drama in my books; it's the engine of the novel.

I don't want to get hung up on what 'people,' that nebulous mass, think about me. That's the way to unhappiness, I think.

I rarely get a moment to myself, but I love the way that my agenda is dictated by the children, not my work.

I wish I got a lie-in on Saturday mornings but I never do.

I'm very eclectic in my music tastes - anything from Nina Simone to Beethoven to Talvin Singh.