Sesim

“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

“What is the name of he who comes with eyes closed and fingers black, the one who draws the curtains back when dawn has come? ‘Agha Thanatos’ or just plain ‘Death’? When will I know which is right?”
― André Alexis, Fifteen Dogs

“To be born in that city is useful for only one thing: to have always known, almost instinctively, what today, with endless fine distinctions, everyone is beginning to claim: that the dream of unlimited progress is in reality a nightmare of savagery and death.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child

“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