Snow reminds Ka of God! But I’m not sure it would be accurate. What brings me close to God is the silence of snow.

The sight of snow made her think how beautiful and short life is and how, in spite of all their enmities, people have so very much in common; measured against eternity and the greatness of creation, the world in which they lived was narrow. That's why snow drew people together. It was as if snow cast a veil over hatreds, greed, and wrath and made everyone feel close to one another. -- Snow pg 119

Ka found it very soothing: for the first time in years, he felt part of a family. In spite of the trials and responsibilities of what was called 'family', he saw now the joys of its unyielding togetherness, and was sorry not to have known more of it in his life.

People only tell lies when there is something they are terribly frightened of losing.

The image that I remember most of all is of the Fenerbahçe players storming into the stadium before kickoff. They were called the canaries because of their yellow jerseys. It was as if they, like canaries, were fluttering into the stadium out of a hole. I loved it. It was poetry.

The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots; the second thing I learned was that some are even worse.

The secularists in Turkey haven't underestimated religion, they just made the mistake of believing they could control it with the power of the army alone.