16 Quotes by Latife Tekin

Dressed up sharply, Seyit kissed his mother's hand, stepped down the stairs and ventured forth to become a rich man. After he had left, Dirmit spread out her books on top of the sewing machine and started to study.

From then on Dirmit wrapped herself up in a quilt made of words. She slept on a bed of words and sat on a chair of words. Atiye became thousands of words whos days were numbered. Nuğber sat waiting for words. Zekiye wept words. Seyit smiled with his gleaming white teeth made of false words. Mahmut pressed his tongue against his teeth and whistled words. Halit banged words on the wall.

At last Dirmit came upon a way. One by one, she took the words from her head and put them into her heart. When a word made her heart pound she wrote it down at once. When it had no effect she cast it out. From that day forward, Dirmit became a slave to her heart, doing what it told her to do, going where it told her to go, saying what it told her to say.

Happy that the illness had left no trace on Dirmit, Atiye let her go outside that very day. But Atiye was wrong. The illness had marked her daughter in other ways. After the notch disease, Dirmit was left with certain traits that passed unnoticed. She kept everything she did as secred, and started to take pity on odd things.

Dirmit perched on a huge rock and stared out at the sea, her eyes darting back and forth between the birds and the choppy water. First she took the sea into herself and then she let the sea take her into it. Her heart leapt into her mouth in elation as the sea rose inside her, and shivered in fear as the sea swallowed her up.

As both a racketeer and a man who turned a profit, he won a place in his father's heart. Huvat broke open his green books and blew prayers after him. He permitted Seyit to smoke in his presence and to shine up his stiletto and spin the chambers of his revolver. After he had bowed in daily prayer, Huvat offered his salutation each time and implored Allah to multiply the strength and power of his son.

Water pump, water pump, I've got some good news for you.""What's your good nes, Dirmit girl?""There's a teacher in the village.""He's here for you, then.""Guess what he said to me.""What did he say, what did he say?""He said I didn't look like a peasant.""Were you pleased?""I was pleased.

Birdie-bird plant, is it shameful for girls to send messages to boys?""No, it's not.""Should I send more messages then?""Just to those boys you love.

After a while, her speech changed too, and she began to speak just like the other villagers. One thing she never learnt, however, was to stop and give way to the men she met on the road. Instead, she marched straight ahead with firm steps.