Orhan Pamuk Quotes
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To savour Istanbul's back streets, to appreciate the vines and trees that endow its ruins with accidental grace, you must, first and foremost, be a stranger to them.
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Istanbul is a vast place. There are very conservative neighbourhoods, there are places that are upper class, Westernised, consuming Western culture.
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A letter doesn't communicate by words alone. A letter, just like a book, can be read by smelling it, touching it and fondling it. Thereby, intelligent folk will say, 'Go on then, read what the letter tells you!' whereas the dull-witted will say, 'Go on then, read what he's written!
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When we lose people we love, we should never disturb their souls, whether living or dead. Instead. we should find consolation in an object that reminds you of them, something...I don't know...even an earring
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Turkish football serves the cause of nationalism, but not of the nation.
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In a brutal country like ours, where human life is 'cheap', it's stupid to destroy yourself for the sake of your beliefs. Beliefs? High ideas? Only people in rich countries can enjoy such luxuries.
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There's a lot of pride involved in my refusal to believe in god.
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No one drives me into exile, not even the nationalists.
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Well, on the one hand the Turks have the legitimate need to defend their national dignity - and this includes being recognized as a part of the west and Europe.
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Many great authors of the 19th century wrote under conditions of strict censorship. The great thing about the art of writing a novel, is that you can write about anything. All you have to say is that it's fiction.
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Clocks and calendars do not exist to remind us of the Time we've forgotten but to regulate our relations with others and indeed all of society, and this is how we use them.
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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.
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Life is beautiful if you are on the road to somewhere
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Age had not made him less handsome, as is so often the case; it had simply made him less visible.
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The gap between compassion and surrender is love’s darkest, deepest region.
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After all, a woman who doesn't love cats is never going to be make a man happy.
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She looked out the window; in her eyes was the light that you see only in children arriving at a new place, or in young people still open to new influences, still curious about the world because they have not yet been scarred by life.
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I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well.
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My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.
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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.
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When something explosive is kept hidden away, a tension builds within that must ultimately be released.
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I certainly see myself more as a craftsman than as an artist.
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People only tell lies when there is something they are terribly frightened of losing.
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The urbanized life has lead to the destruction of the legends.
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I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.
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In Europe the rich are refined enough to act as if they're not wealthy. That is how civilized people behave. If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal; it's about everyone being refined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty.
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[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.
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Happiness is laughing together.
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We live but for a short time, we see but very little, and we know almost nothing; so, at least, let's do some dreaming. Have yourself a very good Sunday, my dear readers.
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Heaven was the place where you kept alive the dreams of your memories.
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