I am a novelist. I traffic in subtleties, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think. A good novel shouldn't have a point.

Teju Cole

Am Knowing Leave Knowing

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Oh, I love labels, as long as they are numerous. I'm an American writer. I'm a Nigerian writer. I'm a Nigerian American writer. I'm an African writer. I'm a Yoruba writer. I'm an African American writer.

Teju Cole

African African American American I Love

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One of the difficulties of photography is that it is much better at being explicit than at being reticent.

Teju Cole

Being Better Difficulties Explicit

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Never say 'I went to Harvard.' Say 'I schooled in the Boston area.'

Teju Cole

Area Boston Harvard Never

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Old-school hip hop, i.e., whatever was popular when you were nineteen, is great. Everything since then is intolerable.

Teju Cole

Everything Great Hip Hip Hop

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Religion is close to theatre; much of its power comes from the effects of staging and framing.

Teju Cole

Close Effects Framing Much

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Throughout his career, W.G. Sebald wrote poems that were strikingly similar to his prose. His tone, in both genres, was always understated but possessed of a mournful grandeur.

Teju Cole

Always Both Career Genres

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In a Transtromer poem, you inhabit space differently; a body becomes a thing, a mind floats, things have lives, and even non-things, even concepts, are alive.

Teju Cole

Alive Becomes Body Concepts

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Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history is. You're looking at something very closely, and you try to write in a meticulous way about it.

Teju Cole

About Art Art History Attention

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When I've had enough of words, I go out into the city for a long walk; sometimes I'll go out walking for several miles. And I'll just take photographs and hope for something striking or unusual to happen that I can organize into a picture frame.

Teju Cole

City Enough Frame Go

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One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness. It is sudden. It pounces.

Teju Cole

Characteristics Chief Mob Quickness

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Punitive murder by the police and by vigilantes has existed in all societies at some point, and probably still exists in most.

Teju Cole

Existed Exists Most Point

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A mob is not, as is so often said, mindless. A mob is single-minded.

Teju Cole

Mindless Mob Often Said

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I am suspicious of writers who say their work is original and influenced by nobody. If it is, it is probably uninteresting. The biggest source of novels is other novels.

Teju Cole

Am Biggest I Am Influenced

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In 'Open City,' there is a passage that any reader of Joyce will immediately recognise as a very close, formal analogue of one the stories in 'Dubliners.' That is because a novel is also a literary conversation.

Teju Cole

Also Any Because City

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I'd like to meet fewer people who say 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 10 pages I've written,' and more 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 300 pages I've written.'

Teju Cole

Book Fewer Here Like

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For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.

Teju Cole

About Apt Attempt Else

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I'm not trying to be a poet on Twitter; I'm trying to be aware of the fact that a very simple sentence, well written, can have a very moving effect without that person knowing why. There's a deep genetic part of you that somehow, even without your permission, recognizes good language when it arrives.

Teju Cole

Aware Deep Effect Even

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"19 Teju Cole Quotes & Sayings

I am a novelist. I traffic in subtleties, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think. A good novel shouldn't have a point.

Teju Cole

Oh, I love labels, as long as they are numerous. I'm an American writer. I'm a Nigerian writer. I'm a Nigerian American writer. I'm an African writer. I'm a Yoruba writer. I'm an African American writer.

Teju Cole

One of the difficulties of photography is that it is much better at being explicit than at being reticent.

Teju Cole

Never say 'I went to Harvard.' Say 'I schooled in the Boston area.'

Teju Cole

Old-school hip hop, i.e., whatever was popular when you were nineteen, is great. Everything since then is intolerable.

Teju Cole

Religion is close to theatre; much of its power comes from the effects of staging and framing.

Teju Cole

Throughout his career, W.G. Sebald wrote poems that were strikingly similar to his prose. His tone, in both genres, was always understated but possessed of a mournful grandeur.

Teju Cole

In a Transtromer poem, you inhabit space differently; a body becomes a thing, a mind floats, things have lives, and even non-things, even concepts, are alive.

Teju Cole

Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history is. You're looking at something very closely, and you try to write in a meticulous way about it.

Teju Cole

When I've had enough of words, I go out into the city for a long walk; sometimes I'll go out walking for several miles. And I'll just take photographs and hope for something striking or unusual to happen that I can organize into a picture frame.

Teju Cole

One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness. It is sudden. It pounces.

Teju Cole

Punitive murder by the police and by vigilantes has existed in all societies at some point, and probably still exists in most.

Teju Cole

Teju Cole

I am suspicious of writers who say their work is original and influenced by nobody. If it is, it is probably uninteresting. The biggest source of novels is other novels.

Teju Cole

In 'Open City,' there is a passage that any reader of Joyce will immediately recognise as a very close, formal analogue of one the stories in 'Dubliners.' That is because a novel is also a literary conversation.

Teju Cole

I'd like to meet fewer people who say 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 10 pages I've written,' and more 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 300 pages I've written.'

Teju Cole

For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.

Teju Cole

Teju Cole

Teju Cole Quotes & Sayings

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"19 Teju Cole Quotes & Sayings

I am a novelist. I traffic in subtleties, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think. A good novel shouldn't have a point.

Teju Cole

Oh, I love labels, as long as they are numerous. I'm an American writer. I'm a Nigerian writer. I'm a Nigerian American writer. I'm an African writer. I'm a Yoruba writer. I'm an African American writer.

Teju Cole

One of the difficulties of photography is that it is much better at being explicit than at being reticent.

Teju Cole

Never say 'I went to Harvard.' Say 'I schooled in the Boston area.'

Teju Cole

Old-school hip hop, i.e., whatever was popular when you were nineteen, is great. Everything since then is intolerable.

Teju Cole

Religion is close to theatre; much of its power comes from the effects of staging and framing.

Teju Cole

Throughout his career, W.G. Sebald wrote poems that were strikingly similar to his prose. His tone, in both genres, was always understated but possessed of a mournful grandeur.

Teju Cole

In a Transtromer poem, you inhabit space differently; a body becomes a thing, a mind floats, things have lives, and even non-things, even concepts, are alive.

Teju Cole

Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history is. You're looking at something very closely, and you try to write in a meticulous way about it.

Teju Cole

When I've had enough of words, I go out into the city for a long walk; sometimes I'll go out walking for several miles. And I'll just take photographs and hope for something striking or unusual to happen that I can organize into a picture frame.

Teju Cole

One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness. It is sudden. It pounces.

Teju Cole

Punitive murder by the police and by vigilantes has existed in all societies at some point, and probably still exists in most.

Teju Cole

Teju Cole

I am suspicious of writers who say their work is original and influenced by nobody. If it is, it is probably uninteresting. The biggest source of novels is other novels.

Teju Cole

In 'Open City,' there is a passage that any reader of Joyce will immediately recognise as a very close, formal analogue of one the stories in 'Dubliners.' That is because a novel is also a literary conversation.

Teju Cole

I'd like to meet fewer people who say 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 10 pages I've written,' and more 'Oh, I want to write a book, here are 300 pages I've written.'

Teju Cole

For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.

Teju Cole

Teju Cole

Teju Cole Quotes & Sayings

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