Top Elif Safak Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Elif Safak Biography

Elif Şafak (Turkish: [eˈlif ʃaˈfak]; born 25 October 1971) is a Turkish author, columnist and speaker. She has been called Turkey's most popular female novelist.

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Elif Safak Quotes

Love exists within each of us from the moment we are born and waits to be discovered from then on.

Born, Exists, Moments, Waiting, Waits

We were all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and unique. No two people are alike. No two hearts beat to the same rhythm. If God had wanted everyone to be the same. He would have made it so. Therefore, disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others is tantamount to disrespecting God’s holy scheme.

Heart, Unique, Differences, Imposing, Image

Ways of loving from a distance, mating without even touching-Amor platonicus! The ladder of love one is expected to climb higher and higher, elating the Self and the Other. Plato clearly regards any actual physical contact as corrupt and ignoble because he thinks the true goal of Eros is beauty. Is there no beauty in sex? Not according to Plato. He is after `more sublime pursuits. ' But if you ask me, I think Plato's problem, like those of many others, was that he never got splendidly laid.

Sex, Plato, Distance, Ways, Regards, Pursuits

Believers are each other's mirrors.

Believer, Believers, Mirrors

We're born into a certain family, nation, class. But if we have no connection whatsoever with the worlds beyond the one we take for granted, then we too run the risk of drying up inside. Our imagination might shrink; our hearts might dwindle, and our humanness might wither if we stay for too long inside our cultural cocoons. Our friends, neighbours, colleagues, family - if all the people in our inner circle resemble us, it means we are surrounded with our mirror image.

Class, Heart, Mean, Running, Whatsoever, Wither

Obviously, Turkey is not a typical authoritarian regime, and obviously it's very important that there are free elections. But it's also obvious that this is not a liberal, mature democracy. This is why I call Turkey a wobbly democracy. At any time, it can tip over and fall down.

Authoritarian, Democracy, Down, Fall, Obvious, Turkeys

Even a speck of love should not go unappreciated, because, as Rumi said, love is the water of life.

Life, Love Is, Rumi, Should, Water, Water Of Life

Knowledge that takes you, not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance.

Ignorance, Knowledge, Takes, Worse

I like to borrow a metaphor from the great poet and mystic Rumi who talks about living like a drawing compass. One leg of the compass is static. It is fixed and rooted in a certain spot. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a huge wide circle around the first one, constantly moving. Just like that, one part of my writing is based in Istanbul. It has strong local roots. Yet at the same time the other part travels the whole wide world, feeling connected to several cities, cultures, and peoples.

Feeling, Huge, Moving, Static, Strong, Writing

That was the one thing about the rain that likened it to sorrow: You did your best to remain untouched, safe and dry, but if and when you failed, there came a point in which you started seeing the problem less in terms of drops than as an incessant gush, and thereby you decide you might as well get drenched.

Drenched, Dry, Failed, Ifs And, Rain, Sorrow

Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness

Doe, Eternity, Infinite, Infinite Time, Mean

Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.

Flow, Forty

Where there is love, there is bound to be heartache.

Bound, Bounds, Heartache, Love

I see what you mean. It must be a huge relief, and an easy way out, to think the devil is always outside of us. (…) we would stop looking for Sheitan outside and instead focus on ourselves. What we need is sincere self-examination. Not being on the watch for the faults of others. ” (p. 257).

Devil, Mean, Relief, Self, Stop, Thinking

To each his own way and his own prayer. God does not take us at our word. He looks deep into our hearts. It is not the ceremonies or rituals that make a difference, but whether our hearts are sufficiently pure or not.

Differences, Heart, Make, Prayer, Pure, Way

I remember a time when it was ok to make fun of politicians and powerful people. Now, it's not ok anymore. We've forgotten how to laugh.

Fun, Powerful, People, Remember, Politicians, Anymore

One thing that has helped me personally in the past was to stop interfering with the people around me and getting frustrated when I couldn’t change them. Instead of intrusion and passivity, may I suggest submission? Some people make the mistake of confusing “submission” with “weakness”, whereas it is anything but. Submission is a form of peaceful acceptance of the terms of the universe, including the things we are currently unable to change or comprehend.

Acceptance, Couldnt, Mistake, Past, Submission, Terms

Time is just an illusion. What you need is to live this very moment. That is all that matters.

Illusion, Live, Matter, Moment, Moments, Needs

I would like the refugee crisis to become a new beginning in the Turkish-European relationship. But it would be very problematic if, during this process, human rights were forgotten. Democracy needs to be the priority.

Human, Like, Needs, New Beginnings, Refugee Crisis, Rights

In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state - as if this state were fragile and needed protection - when in fact, it's too powerful already.

Democracy, Individual, Powerful, State, Turkeys

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