Anagha

“Never be ashamed of your tears. Cry and everyone knows you’re alive.”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“The world is no longer the same for the one who has fallen in love, the one who is at its very centre; it can only spin faster from now on.”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“She had never told her friends this, not in so many words, but they were her safety net. Every time she stumbled or keeled over, they were there for her, supporting her or softening the impact of the fall. On nights when she was mistreated by a client, she would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises; and on days when she wallowed in self-pity, her chest cracking open, they would gently pull her up and breathe life into her lungs.”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“It seemed to Leila that human beings exhibited a profound impatience with the milestones of their existence. For one thing, they assumed that you automatically became a wife or a husband the moment you said, ‘I do!’ But the truth was, it took years to learn how to be married. Similarly, society expected maternal – or paternal – instincts to kick in as soon as one had a child. In fact, it could take quite a while to figure out how to be a parent – or a grandparent, for that matter. Ditto with retirement and old age.”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World