The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots; the second thing I learned was that some are even worse.

I have hired a bodyguard, on the recommendation of my friends and the government. It's outrageous, having to live like this.

I believe that it isn't victories but defeats that promote nationalism.

Before my birth there was infinite time, and after my death, inexhaustible time. I never thought of it before: I'd been living luminously between two eternities of darkness.

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.

When two people love each other as we do, no one can come between them, no one," I said, amazed at the words I was uttering without preparation. "Lovers like us, because they know that nothing can destroy their love, even on the worst days, even when they are heedlessly hurting each other in the cruelest , most deceitful ways, still carry in their hearts a consolation that never abandons them." (p.191)

Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow.