Ankara Quote by Elif Safak

Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture is mostly…

— Elif Safak

I spent my entire childhood observing people. I still do.

— Elif Safak

With 'The Forty Rules of Love,' I wanted to write a love story. But I wanted a love story with a spiritual dimension. For…

— Elif Safak

Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability.

— Elif Safak

Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission. A…

— Elif Safak

The lack of trust in supranational entities and cosmopolitan elite creates a fertile ground for tribalist belongings and reactionary politics.

— Elif Safak

In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state…

— Elif Safak

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…

— Elif Safak

Feminists are now being vilified in politics, erdogan used to speak more embracingly, saying he was the leader of everyone, whether they voted for…

— Elif Safak

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…

— Elif Safak

I write my novels in English first; then they are translated into Turkish by professional translators. Then I take their translation and rewrite. So…

— Elif Safak

For me, coming from the women's movement, politics is not just about parties and parliament. There is politics in our private space and in…

— Elif Safak