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

A writer is someone who spends years patiently trying to discover the second being inside him, and the world that makes him who he is: when I speak of writing, what comes first to my mind is not a novel, a poem, or literary tradition, it is a person who shuts himself up in a room, sits down at a table, and alone, turns inward; amid its shadows, he builds a new world with words.

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

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

I very much enjoy reading other writers' diaries, mainly because it makes me ask myself: Are they like you? How do they think?

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.

Suddenly Ka realized he was in love with İpek. And realizing that this love would determine the rest of his life, he was filled with dread.