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
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
Knowledge that takes you, not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance. — Elif Safak Funny 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 Forgotten Copy Share Image
I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities. — Elif Safak Between Copy Share Image
My readers are surprisingly mixed. I have conservative readers - for instance, women with headscarves - but also many liberal, leftist, feminist,… — Elif Safak Books 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 Bad Copy Share Image
Stories cannot demolish frontiers, but they can punch holes in our mental walls, and through those holes we can get a glimpse… — Elif Safak Demolish 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 About Copy Share Image
For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God. — Elif Safak Connected 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
God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and… — Elif Safak Across 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
Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are… — Elif Safak Believe 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
We need a dose of doubt and a dose of faith, to challenge each other. — Elif Safak Challenge 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
“If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough.” — Elif Şafak Copy Share Image
I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a… — Elif Safak Above Copy Share Image
