Ancient wisdom Quote by Walter Isaacson

“Like most Istanbul Turks I had little interest in Byzantium as a child. I associated the word with spooky, bearded, black-robed Greek Orthodox priests,…

— Orhan Pamuk

“Constantinople had been changing for sometime before the Young Turks got hold of it. It would continue to change long after they had gone.”

— Charles Emmerson

Seldom can two such epoch-making events have occurred in successive years as happened then. In 1453 the Turks stormed Constantinople and finally destroyed the…

— Frederic G. Kenyon

“Here I come, Constantinople”

— The Residents

And, of course, it must be asked: is it proper to transact with the Turks for the most reassured of Greek possessions when Greece…

— Melina Mercouri

Turks have long admired the sultan, Mehmet II, for his military triumphs, especially his capture of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, in 1453.

— Stephen Kinzer

“Aristotle affirms that philosophy did not pass from Greece to Gaul, that is to the Druids, but was received from them.”

— John Daniel

“Our journey is one of discovery on Sicily. Like the past Greek writers.orators,historians and philosophers we are all searching for answers on Earth”

— Daniel Peter Buckley

“Conrad,Nabokov, Naipaul - these are writers known for having managed to migrate between languages, cultures, countries, continents, even civilizations. Their imaginations were fed by…

— Orhan Pamuk

“The Turks have dreary jails.”

— Lawrence Block

“In those girls I found my Rome, my Paris, my Constantinople.”

— George Saunders

Celebrating historic triumphs is a favorite pastime for many Turks. Tales of how Turkic peoples emerged from Central Asia, crossed the steppes to Anatolia,…

— Stephen Kinzer