I am a highly disciplined person. I get up at seven every morning and, still in my pajamas, sit down at my desk where my checkered ring binders and my fountain pen are ready for use. I try to write two pages every day.

My hero wants to belong too, but he doesn't want to give up all the things he came to value in the west.

Heroic dreams are the consolation of the unhappy. After all, when people like us say we're being heroic, it usually means we're about to kill each other--or kill ourselves.

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

We're not stupid! We're just poor! And we have a right to insist on this distinction

I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning.

Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.