Quotes from Orhan Pamuk

Bu çirkin ve iÄŸrenç dünyada ancak aptallar mutlu olabilir.

I thank Allah that, I the humble tree before you, have not been drawn witch such intent. And not only because I fear that if I'd been thus depicted all the dogs in Istanbul would assume I was a real tree and piss on me: I don't want to be a tree, I want to be its meaning.

As Ka knew from the beginning, in this part of the world faith in God was not something achieved by thinking sublime thoughts and stretching one's creative powers to their outer limits; nor was it something one could do alone; above all it meant joining a mosque, becoming part of a community.

In a city you can be alone in a crowd and in fact what makes the city a city is that it lets you hide the strangeness in your mind in its teeming multitudes.

Culoarea este mângâierea ochiului, muzica surzilor - un cuvânt în întuneric. Deoarece am ascultat, vreme de zeci de mii de ani, spusele sufletelor ca pe un vuiet de vânt trecând din carte în carte È™i din lucru în lucru, am s? v? spun c? atingerea mea seam?n? cu atingerea îngerilor.

Roman kahramanlarinin karakterlerine, tuhafliklarina, unutulmazliklarina gosterilen asiri ve dengesiz ilgi, Avrupa'dan butun dunyaya, tipki romanin kendisi gibi yayildi.

The idea of a solitary westernized individual whose faith in God is private is very threatening to you. An atheist who belongs to a community is far easier for you to trust than a solitary man who believes in God. For you, a solitary man is far more wretched and sinful than a nonbeliever.

Museums should no longer concern themselves with history on a grand scale, the sagas of kings and heroes, or the forging of national identities; they should focus instead on the lives and belongings of ordinary people, just as modern novels do.

Samiha. Entonces

The first such suicide had come from the city of Batman, a hundred kilometers from Kars.

Heroic dreams are the consolation of the unhappy.

Si può giocare tutto il giorno, ma sentirsi molto più seri di chiunque altro. Prendere sul serio l'essenza e l'immediatezza della vita con un'ingenuità propria solo dei bambini.

Pero aquella torpe relación mía con la religión nunca me mantuvo alejado de los temas metafísicos y religiosos. Siempre mantenía en un rincón de mi mente el razonamiento de que si Dios, aunque no pudiera creer en él como a mí me habría gustado, era un ser omnisciente como decían, sería sin duda muy inteligente y entendería por qué yo era incapaz de creer y me perdonaría

Barakaya doÄŸru yürüyor, hafif bir utanç duyuyor, tasar?lar yap?yordu: Her sabah cimnastik yapacak, küçük de olsa insan? aÅŸa??layan ÅŸu göbeÄŸini eritecek, gövdesinin haml???n? giderecek, getirdiÄŸi bütün kitaplar? okuyacak, bir ÅŸeyler yazacak, düÅŸünecek eskiden olduÄŸu gibi saÄŸl?kl?, dengeli ve mutlu bir insan olarak NiÅŸanta??'ndaki evine dönecekti.

Para mí, la esencia de la religión es el sentimiento de culpabilidad

Oare Negru, care-l citise atât de îndelung pe Nazami, simÈ›ea c?, la fel ca Sirin, îi ziceam "nu-mi r?ni buzele cu s?rut?rile tale, nu face asta!", dar îi spuneam, de fapt, dincolo de propriile vorbe "f?-o!"?

En nuestro edificio nunca vi a nadie de nuestra familia rezando, ni ayunando, ni susurrando oraciones. Desde cierto punto de vista, los míos vivían como asustados burgueses franceses, voluntariamente apartados de la religión pero temerosos de intentar un último ajuste de cuentas con ella

Perché io sia felice è necessario che ogni giorno mi occupi un po' di letteratura.

It is indeed important that a painting, through its beauty, summon us toward life's abundance, toward compassion, toward respect for the colors of the realm which God created, and toward reflection and faith. The identity of the miniaturist is not important.

am sometimes hard-pressed to explain why I've stayed, not only in the same place but in the same building.

Si può giocare tutto il giorno, ma sentirsi molto più seri di chiunque altro.

solo se arrepentía porque tuviera miedo, sino también

Llegué a la conclusión de que el lugar al que llamaban escuela en realidad no respondía a las preguntas verdaderamente importantes, sino que simplemente ayudaba a que las asumiéramos como parte integrante de la realidad de la vida, Por eso, hasta los años de instituto, tuve buen cuidado en levantar el dedo y permanecer en el lado cómo y tranquilo de la línea

Many years before, Ka had explained to me that when a good poet is confronted with difficult facts that he knows to be true but also inimical to poetry, he has no choice but to feel to the margins; it was, he said, this very retreat that allowed him to hear the hidden music that is the source of all art.