Quote

It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people and their emotions closer to my readers, not explain Turkish politics.

Orhan Pamuk

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Orhan Pamuk
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: June 7
Academic
Author
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
İstanbul
Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk
Politics
Emotions
Literature
Intention
Culture
Concern
Turkish
Problem
Universal
Turkeys
People
Reader
Turkey
Problems
Readers
Emotion
Closer
Bring
Explain

More quotes by Orhan Pamuk

Image
Well, on the one hand the Turks have the legitimate need to defend their national dignity - and this includes being recognized as a part of the west and Europe.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
In Europe the rich are refined enough to act as if they're not wealthy. That is how civilized people behave. If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal it's about everyone being refined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Writing my own diary is the best form of remembrance, but only for my own use. I need these notes it's like an impulse.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
After all, a woman who doesn't love cats is never going to be make a man happy.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Morality is probably the last thing one can learn from football.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Love is a sacred silence.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
I need the pain of loneliness to make my imagination work.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
My hero wants to belong too, but he doesn't want to give up all the things he came to value in the west.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
In his brilliant new book Pankaj Mishra reverses the long gaze of the West upon the East, showing modern history as it has been felt by the majority of the world's population from Turkey to China. These are the amazing stories of the grandfathers of today's angry Asians. Excellent!
Orhan Pamuk
Image
It may not happen in the first instant, but within ten minutes of meeting a man, a woman has a clear idea of who he is, or at least who he might be for her, and her heart of hearts has already told her whether or not she's going to fall in love with him.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
I need a moment of time for myself every day, like a child playing with his things. When I travel, I routinely find a quiet place, open my diary and write something in it.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
I certainly see myself more as a craftsman than as an artist.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Turks have a dismissive phrase: he works like a clerk. I have turned this insult around: I am proud to say that I work like a clerk.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
The image that I remember most of all is of the Fenerbahçe players storming into the stadium before kickoff. They were called the canaries because of their yellow jerseys. It was as if they, like canaries, were fluttering into the stadium out of a hole. I loved it. It was poetry.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Great changes in the direction of peace have often come from people who were no great advocates of peace to begin with.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
If we give what we treasure most to a Being we love with all our hearts, if we can do that without expecting anything in return, then the world becomes a beautiful place.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Nationalism stems from catastrophes, whether they are caused by earthquakes or lost wars.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Hüzün does not just paralyze the inhabitants of Instanbul, it also gives them poetic license to be paralyzed.
Orhan Pamuk
Image
Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow.
Orhan Pamuk