Art and literature should help us to get out of our mental cocoons. — Elif Safak Art Copy Share Image
We need a dose of doubt and a dose of faith, to challenge each other. — Elif Safak Challenge Copy Share Image
perhaps it took a stranger to make a woman like her speak her mind. — Elif Safak Heart Copy Share Image
English, for me, is an acquired language. I started with English at the age of 10. At the time, it was my… — Elif Safak Age Copy Share Image
Writing in another language gives me an additional freedom, an additional way of thinking. It's a challenge, but I like the challenge. — Elif Safak Freedom Copy Share Image
If there is no love between the author and the story, there is no love between the reader and the story. — Elif Safak Author Copy Share Image
“If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough.” — Elif Şafak Copy Share Image
Bad writing is like a bad relationship. Don't be addicted to it just because you are familiar with its ways. Let go. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I believe in optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect. But my hope is the people, the society, which is ahead… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Article Five: If you have no reason or ability to accomplish anything, then just practice the art of becoming. — Elif Safak Ability Copy Share Image
I would like the refugee crisis to become a new beginning in the Turkish-European relationship. But it would be very problematic if,… — Elif Safak Crisis Copy Share Image
When I was 10 years old, we moved to Spain with my mother. I learned Spanish before I learned English. But the… — Elif Safak English language Copy Share Image
Turkey in general became too involved with what is happening in Egypt and in Syria. Some politicians with neo-Ottoman dreams developed this… — Elif Safak Dream Copy Share Image
Our politics is very masculine, very aggressive, and it's very polarizing. And the pace of this development has increased in recent years.… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame,… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
It is tiring to be Turkish. The country is badly polarised, bitterly politicized. Every writer, journalist, poet knows that because of an… — Elif Safak Country Copy Share Image
Turkey has a very young, dynamic, curious population. In Europe, Facebook and Twitter are mostly about sharing daily experiences while for Turkish… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Sometimes I feel I have more faith in European ideals than some of my British or French friends. For them, it's a… — Elif Safak British Copy Share Image
I realized over the years if I'm writing about humor, irony, satire, I much prefer to do that in English. And if… — Elif Safak Humor Copy Share Image
Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture… — Elif Safak Books Copy Share Image
“Page 158: 'Architecture is team work,' said Sinan. 'Apprenticeship is not.' 'Why don't you want us to look at each other's drawings?… — Elif Şafak Architecture Copy Share Image
Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in… — Elif Safak Capitulation Copy Share Image
There are two different ways of writing a novel. The first I call the traditional father way, when the novelist slightly situates… — Elif Safak Books Copy Share Image
Part of me always felt like the other, the outsider, the observer. My father had two sons with his second wife, who… — Elif Safak Identity Copy Share Image
I am very worried about this concentration of power, and it's not only because of Erdogan. We have the ballot box, but… — Elif Safak Ballots Copy Share Image
We were all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and unique. No two people are alike. No… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
“How on earth could she now tell Armanoush that, though only nineteen, she had known many men's hands and did not feel… — Elif Şafak National identity Copy Share Image
I remember a time when it was ok to make fun of politicians and powerful people. Now, it's not ok anymore. We've… — Elif Safak Comedy Copy Share Image
Time is just an illusion. What you need is to live this very moment. That is all that matters. — Elif Safak Illusion Copy Share Image
Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. — Elif Safak Fun Copy Share Image
I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother,… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Knowledge that takes you, not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance. — Elif Safak Funny Copy Share Image
I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
How can you blame others for disrespecting you when you think of yourself as unworthy of respect? — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
