Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them
For if a lover's face survives emblazoned on your heart, the world is still your home.
The thing that binds us together is that we have both lowered our expectations of life
I do not believe in a personal connection to God; that's where it gets transcendental.
All great masters, in their work, seek that profound void within color and outside time.
Immersing oneself in the problems of a book is a good way to keep from thinking of love.
Nationalism stems from catastrophes, whether they are caused by earthquakes or lost wars.
The hero of the book does long to experience God. But his conception of God is very western.
At first my publisher had reservations about publishing it in the form you are familiar with.
The opponents of this process have always tried to vilify westernization as a poor imitation.
The snow reminded me of the beauty and mystery of creation, of the essential joy that is life.
When I paint, I definitely live in the present, like someone in a shower whistling or singing.
Age had not made him less handsome, as is so often the case; it had simply made him less visible.
I really don't want to portray the Islamists as simply evil, the way it's often done in the west.
I see Turkey's future as being in Europe, as one of many prosperous, tolerant, democratic countries.
What is the thing you want most from me? What can I do to make you love me?' Be yourself,' said Ipek.
Enjoyment of football is part of the social context, and I have lost my faith in this social context.
It's a great relief for me that no one will ask me anymore: "Orhan, when will you get the Nobel Prize?"
When something explosive is kept hidden away, a tension builds within that must ultimately be released.
My hero wants to belong too, but he doesn't want to give up all the things he came to value in the west.
I believe strongly in an author's moral responsibility. But his first obligation is to write good books.
What was venerated as style was nothing more than an imperfection or flaw that revealed the guilty hand.
Hüzün does not just paralyze the inhabitants of Instanbul, it also gives them poetic license to be paralyzed.
There's been quite a clear upswing in nationalist sentiments. Everyone is talking about it, in Turkey as well.
At the age of 60, I am less experimental and more mature. I want most of all to convey my understanding of life.
As always after drinking too much, I felt like my own ghost trying to take it's first solo walk outside the body.
Snow reminds Ka of God! But I’m not sure it would be accurate. What brings me close to God is the silence of snow.
Nothing can be as astounding as life. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the sole consolation.
I don’t like to make strong statements. I want to write strong novels … I keep my deep radical things for my novels.
My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.
Mankind's greatest error, the biggest deception of the past thousand years is this: to confuse poverty with stupidity.
Censorship should never be allowed. One should be able to say anything. But I refuse to let politics be foisted on me.
I don't like to make strong statements. I want to write strong novels... I keep my deep, radical things for my novels.
The fueling of anti-Turkish sentiment in Europe is resulting in an anti-European, indiscriminate nationalism in Turkey.
Great changes in the direction of peace have often come from people who were no great advocates of peace to begin with.
Writing my own diary is the best form of remembrance, but only for my own use. I need these notes; it's like an impulse.
The writers secret is not inspiration - for it is never clear where it comes from - it is his stubbornness, his patience.
The writer's secret is not inspiration - for it is never clear where it comes from - it is his stubbornness, his patience.
I have hired a bodyguard, on the recommendation of my friends and the government. It's outrageous, having to live like this.
The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots; the second thing I learned was that some are even worse.
How different from the cosy world of Rüya's detective novels, where authors never vexed a hero with more signs than he needed.
I very much enjoy reading other writers' diaries, mainly because it makes me ask myself: Are they like you? How do they think?
Life can't be all that bad,' i'd think from time to time. 'Whatever happens, i can always take a long walk along the Bosphorus.
Sometimes I would see them not as mementos of the blissful hours but as the tangible precious debris of the storm raging in my soul.
Turks have a dismissive phrase: he works like a clerk. I have turned this insult around: I am proud to say that I work like a clerk.
Actually, it's the other way round. In a poor country, the only consolation people can have is the one that comes from their beliefs.
[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.
A writer in someone who spends years patiently trying to discover the second being inside him, and the world that makes him who he is.
When I was publishing my first books, the previous generation of authors was fading away, so I was welcomed because I was a new author.
I have been attacked in Turkey more for my interviews than for my books. Political polemicists and columnists do not read novels there.