Sesim

“Do you know that the Sufis believe the world is a mother's womb? she asks. We are all babies in a womb. When the time comes we have to leave the world. We know this but we don't want to leave. We fear that when we die we will cease to exist. But death is actually a birth. If we could understand this we wouldn't be scared of anything.”
― Elif Shafak, Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within

“It's amazing how man still believes in words. For example, if you call him a fool and don't beat him, he'll be wretched. Call him a genius and don't give him any money - he'll be quite satisfied.”
― Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons

“I know now, what I didn’t then, that affection can’t always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else.”
― Magda Szabó, The Door

“Perfect understanding between beings is no guarantor of happiness. To perfectly understand another's madness, for instance, is to be mad oneself. The veil that separates earthly beings is, at times, a tragic barrier, but it is also, at times, a great kindness.”
― André Alexis, Fifteen Dogs