Ipek Emekli

“Maybe we give other names to grief because we are too scared to call it by its name.”
― Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

“We are scared of happiness, you see. From a tender age we have been taught that in the air, in the Etesian wind, an uncanny exchange is at work, so that for every morsel of contentment there will follow a morsel of suffering, for every peal of laughter there is a drop of tear ready to roll, because that is the way of this strange world, and hence we try not to look too happy, even on days when we might feel so inside.”
― Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

“At the end of the day, we all remember for the same reason we try to forget: to survive in a world that neither understands nor values us.”
― Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees

“When you are in trouble or at your lowest point, and have no one in whom to confide, a hawthorn would be the right choice. There is a reason why hawthorns are home to fairies and known to protect pots of treasure. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skin. Then again, if it's love you're after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig.”
― Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees