The thing that binds us together is that we have both lowered our expectations of life

My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.

It's a great relief for me that no one will ask me anymore: "Orhan, when will you get the Nobel Prize?"

The knowledge that she could learn to love a man had always meant more to her than loving him effortlessly, more even than falling in love, and that was why she now felt that she was on the threshold of a new life, a happiness bound to endure for a very long time.

Painting taught literature to describe.

My diary has its own kind of magic. It gives me the feeling of having accomplished something. On days when I don't have time for this, I feel tortured.

How different from the cosy world of Rüya's detective novels, where authors never vexed a hero with more signs than he needed.