When you love a city and have explored it frequently on foot, your body, not to mention your soul, gets to know the streets so well after a number of years that in a fit of melancholy, perhaps stirred by a light snow falling ever so sorrowfully, you'll discover your legs carrying you of their own accord toward one of your favourite promontories

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

I believe strongly in an author's moral responsibility. But his first obligation is to write good books.

I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.

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

Nothing changed in my life since I work all the time," Pamuk said then. "I've spent 30 years writing fiction. For the first 10 years I worried about money and no one asked me how much money I made. The second decade I spent money and no one was asking me about that. And I've spent the last 10 years with everyone expecting to hear how I spend the money, which I will not do.

Nationalism stems from catastrophes, whether they are caused by earthquakes or lost wars.