Istanbul is a vast place. There are very conservative neighbourhoods, there are places that are upper class, Westernised, consuming Western culture.

Age had not made him less handsome, as is so often the case; it had simply made him less visible.

Football can teach us that although a team's individual players may be weak, it can still be successful if it uses common sense. Or that we should not attack anyone physically when we suffer a depressing defeat.

Immersing oneself in the problems of a book is a good way to keep from thinking of love.

The entire world was like a palace with countless rooms whose doors opened into one another. We were able to pass from one room to the next only by exercising our memories and imaginations, but most of us, in our laziness, rarely exercised these capacities, and forever remained in the same room.

Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.

I need the pain of loneliness to make my imagination work.