134 Quotes by Elif Şafak

Father, I am from a different egg than your other children. Think of me as a duckling raised by hens. I am not a domestic bird destined to spend his life in a chicken coop. the water that scares you rejuvenates me. For unlike you I can swim, and swim I shall. The ocean is my homeland. If you are with me, come to the ocean. If not, stop interfering with me and go back to the chicken coop.

Because time is a drop in the ocean, and you cannot measure off one drop against another to see which one is bigger, which one is smaller.

Isn't connecting people to distant lands and culture one of the strengths of good literature?

But let us not forget that cities are like human beings. They are born, they go through childhood and adolescence, they grow old, and eventually they die

A saint belongs to all humanity.

Identity politics divides us; fiction connects. One is interested in sweeping generalizations, the other in nuances. One draws boundaries, the other recognizes no frontiers. Identity politics is made of solid bricks; fiction is flowing water.

Stop running after the waves. Let the sea come to you.

perhaps it took a stranger to make a woman like her speak her mind.

Article Five: If you have no reason or ability to accomplish anything, then just practice the art of becoming.