Elif Shafak Quotes

“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?
Elif Shafak”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that you life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“The past is a whirlpool. If you let it dominate your present moment, it will suck you in. Time is just an illusion. What you need is to live this very moment. That is all that matters.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“Dacă suntem aceeași oameni înainte și după ce-am iubit înseamnă că n-am iubit destul. [...] Dar vechea zicală stă încă în picioare : Acolo unde-i iubire, trebuie să fie și durere.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“Things that can seem malicious or unfortunate are often a blessing in disguise, whereas things that might seem unpleasant can be harmful in the long run.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“Нефритенозелените ѝ очи, обикновено широко отворени и изпълнени с пламенна интелигентност, от време на време се присвиваха и се превръщаха в две резки на пълно безразличие, присъщо само на три вида хора: безнадеждно лековерните, безнадеждно отчуждените и безнадеждно обнадеждените. Тъй като Зелиха не спадаше към никой от тях, безразличието ѝ - колкото и мимолетно да бе - бе трудно обяснимо. То прикриваше като с балдахин душата ѝ, за да я направи безчувствена като след упойка, но след миг се изпаряваше, оставайки Зелиха сама в тялото ѝ.”
― Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul

“Ironically, [living in] communities of the like - minded is one of the greatest dangers of today ́s globalized world. And it ́s happening everywhere, among liberals and conservatives, agnostics and believers, the rich and the poor, East and West alike. We tend to form clusters based on similarity, and then we produce stereotypes about other clusters of people. In my opinion, one way of transcending these cultural ghettos is through the art of storytelling”
― Elif Shafak

“In the Ottoman times, there were itinerant storytellers called "meddah. " They would go to coffee houses, where they would tell a story in front of an audience, often improvising. With each new person in the story, the meddah would change his voice, impersonating that character. Everybody could go and listen, you know ordinary people, even the sultan, Muslims and non-Muslims. Stories cut across all boundaries. Like "The Tales of Nasreddin Hodja," which were very popular throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans and Asia. Today, stories continue to transcend borders”
― Elif Shafak

“Because what was love if it wasn't nursing someone else's pain as if it wasn't your own?”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of stars in the visible universe. Don’t confuse power-driven, self-centered people with true mentors. A genuine spiritual master will not direct your attention to himself or herself and will not expect absolute obedience or utter admiration from you, but instead will help you to appreciate and admire your inner self. True mentors are as transparent as glass. They let the Light of God pass through them.” —Shams Tabrizi”
― Shams Tabrizi,

“There ́s a metaphor which I love: living like a drawing compass. As you know, one leg of the compass is static, rooted in a place. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a wide circle, constantly moving. Like that, my fiction as well. One part of it is rooted in Istanbul with strong Turkish roots. But the other part travels the world, connecting to different cultures.”
― Elif Shafak

“Hasan, the Begger:

Believe it or not, they call this purgatory on earth “holy-suffering”. I am a leper stuck in limbo. Neither the dead nor the living want me among them. Mothers point me out on the streets to scare their misbehaving little ones, and children throw stones at me. Artisans chase me from their storefronts to ward off the bad luck that follows me everywhere, and pregnant women turn their faces away whenever they set eyes on me, fearing that their babies will be born defec-tive. None of these people seem to realize that as keen as they are to avoid me, I am far keener to avoid them and their pitiful stares.

Friday is the best day of the week to beg except when it is Ramadan, in which case the whole month is quite lucrative. The last day of Ramadan is by far the best time to make money. That is when even the hopeless penny-pinchers race to give alms, keen to compensate for all their sins, past and present. Once a year, people don't turn away from beggars. To the contrary, they specifically look for one, the more miserable the better. So profound is their need to show off how generous and charitable they are, not only do they race to give us alms, but for that single day they almost love us.

I’ve realized that the trees and I had something in common. A tree shedding its leaves in autumn resembled a man shedding his limbs in the final stages of leprosy. I am naked tree. My skin, my organs, my face are falling apart. Every day another part of my body abandons me. And for me, unlike the trees, there would be no spring in which I would blossom. What I lost, I lost forever. When people looks at me, they don’t see who I am but what I am missing. Whenever they places a coin in my bowl, they do so with amazing speed and avoid any eye contacts, as if my gaze is contagious. In their eyes I am worse than a thief or a murderer. As much as they disapproves of such outlaws, they don’t treat them as if they are invisible. When it comes to me, however, all they see is death staring them in the face. That's what scares them--to recognize that death could be this close and this ugly.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“kimine kafi gelir bu ten sureti
böyle doğar, böyle sırlanır
kimine dar gelir bu ten sureti
hep arar, savrulur

kiminin imanı korkudur
"ve inne rabbeke leşediydül'ikaab"
(gerçekten senin tanrı'nın azabı çok şiddetlidir)
kiminin imanı safi aşktır
"ve ma rabbüke bizzallamin lil'abiyd"
(rabbin kullarına asla zulmedici değildir)

her kim ki aşk için, aşkla yaşar
aşkı arar, aşkla yanar
işbu vücud şehrinin
kapısını aralar.”
― Elif Shafak, Pinhan

“​Âdem ile Havva: Âdem ile Havva, yasak elmanın tadına varınca, farklılıklarını gördüler ilk defa. Utanıp incir yapraklarıyla örtmek istediler çıplaklıklarını. Ama birinde bir, ötekinde üç incir yaprağı vardı. Sayı saymayı da öğrenince, bir daha hiç aynı olamadılar.”
― Elif Shafak, The Gaze

“Dacă mai mult de trei oameni dormeau într-un spaţiu strâmt, mai devreme sau mai târziu, răsuflările lor se sincronizau. Poate era felul lui Dumnezeu de-a ne spune că, de-am putea renunţa la noi înşine, am fi în sfârşit în pas cu ceilalţi şi n-ar mai exista certuri.”
― Elif Shafak, Honor

“ما الفائدة من الكفاح من اجل حرية التعبير اذ لم يكافح المرء من اجل حرية الفكاهة اولا”
― The Bastard of Istanbul

“Готвачът беше немногословен човек и си повтаряше все едно:
— Да чистиш, е като да се молиш, да се молиш, е като да чистиш!
— Ако това беше вярно, всички домакини в Багдад щяха да са се превърнали в духовни учители досега — осмелих се веднъж да възразя аз.”
― Елиф Шафак, The Forty Rules of Love

“In the dust of war, what remains is not the ruins, but the names we whispered and the promises we broke.”
― Abhishek Mishra, The Name Beneath the Dust: The Complete Novella: "The Strongest Stories Don’t Shout. They Whisper Beneath the Dust."