Orhan Pamuk > Quotes

“I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots; the second thing I learned was that some are even worse. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City

“How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation, and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves have known?”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“Sometimes I sensed that the books I read in rapid succession had set up some sort of murmur among themselves, transforming my head into an orchestra pit where different musical instruments sounded out, and I would realize that I could endure this life because of these musicales going on in my head.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“There are two kind of men,' said Ka, in a didatic voice. 'The first kind does not fall in love until he's seen how the girls eats a sandwich, how she combs her hair, what sort of nonsense she cares about, why she's angry at her father, and what sort of stories people tell about her. The second type of man -- and I am in this category -- can fall in love with a woman only if he knows next to nothing about her.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“Painting is the silence of thought and the music of sight.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“My unhappiness protects me from life.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“It may not happen in the first instant, but within ten minutes of meeting a man, a woman has a clear idea of who he is, or at least who he might be for her, and her heart of hearts has already told her whether or not she's going to fall in love with him.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“For if a lover's face survives emblazoned on your heart, the world is still your home.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“أحب القراءة فقط كما أحببت الذهاب لمشاهدة الأفلام، أو تصفح الجرائد و المجلات، لم أكن أفعل هذه الأشياء لأكتسب نوعاً من المميزات، أو للحصول على نتيجة ما، أو ربما لأفكر فى نفسى كشخص فوق العادى، أو أكثر معرفة، أو أكثر عمقاً من الآخرين، أستطيع حتى أن أقول إن كونى دودة كتب علمنى نوعاًمن التواضع ”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Black Book

“What is the thing you want most from me? What can I do to make you love me?'

Be yourself,' said Ipek.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“Try to discover who I am from my choice of words and colors, as attentive people like yourselves might examine footprints to catch a thief.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“Tell me then, does love make one a fool or do only fools fall in love?”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“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.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“ذات مرة اعتدت أن أكون شخصاً آخر, و أن شخصاً ما اعتاد أن يرغب فى أن يصبح أنا”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“عندما تفكر فى الأمر, الظلم و الشر موجودان فى كل مكان فى العالم... المهم هو أن تعيش بحيث تبقى الطيبة بداخلك سليمة”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

“الحب هو رغبة ملحة فى العثور على مرفأ آمن لروحك الإنسانية”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“Over time, I have come to see the work of literature less as narrating the world than "seeing the world with words."

From the moment he begins to use words like colors in a painting, a writer can begin to see how wondrous and surprising the world is, and he breaks the bones of language to find his own voice. For this he needs paper, a pen, and the optimism of a child looking at the world for the first time. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, Other Colors

“A letter doesn't communicate by words alone. A letter, just like a book, can be read by smelling it, touching it and fondling it. Thereby, intelligent folk will say, 'Go on then, read what the letter tells you!' whereas the dull-witted will say, 'Go on then, read what he's written!”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“أنت تسأل طفل لماذا يبكى؛ هو يبكى لجرح عميق بداخله لكنه يخبرك بأنه يبكى لأنه فقد برايته الزرقاء؛ كان هذا نوع الحزن الذى اجتاحنى و أنا أنظر إلى كل الأشياء المعروضة.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“ لكي اكتب جيدا، لا بد أولا أن اشعر بالملل حتى الجنون، ولكي اشعر بالملل حتى الجنون، لا بد أن ادخل في الحياة”
― Orhan Pamuk, Other Colors

“As always after drinking too much, I felt like my own ghost trying to take it's first solo walk outside the body.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

“I think a lot about the poems I wasn't able to write...I masturbrated...Solitude is essentially a matter of pride; you bury yourself in your own scent. The issue is the same for all real poets. If you've been happy for too long, you become banal. By the same token, if you've been unhappy for a long time, you lose your poetic power...Happiness and poverty can only coexist for the briefest time. Afterword either happiness coarsens the poet or the poem is so true it destroys his happiness.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“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”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“الحزن هو مادة تنتشر من المعدة إلى المخ”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“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”
― Orhan Pamuk

“There's a lot of pride involved in my refusal to believe in god.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“هذا ما كنت أريده ... السلام, النوم, الموت, الوقت!”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“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.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“Let me first state forthright that contrary to what we've often read in books and heard from preachers, when you are a woman, you don't feel like the Devil. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“¿Es el amor el que vuelve estúpidas a las personas o es que sólo los estúpidos se enamoran?”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“ اذا كنت مضطرا لقطع فترة طويلة دون ان اتناول علاجي من الورق والحبر، بسبب السفر مثلا، أو عدم دفع فاتورة الغاز، او الخدمة العسكرية (كما كان الحال في يوم من الايام)، او شئون سياسية (كما كان الحال منذ فترة قريبة) أو أي عدد من العوائق الأخرى، اشعر بالتعاسة تترسب داخلي كالأسمنت. جسدي يتحرك بصعوبة، مفاصلي تغدو متصلبة، رأسي يتحول إلى صخر، حتى تنفسي تبدو له رائحة مختلفة. وهذه التعاسة من المحتمل أن تنمو، لان الحياة مليئة بالأشياء التي تتآمر على إبعاد الشخص عن الأدب. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, Other Colors

“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.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“The real question is how much suffering we've caused our womenfolk by turning headscarves into symbols - and using women as pawns in a political game.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“When we lose people we love, we should never disturb their souls, whether living or dead. Instead. we should find consolation in an object that reminds you of them, something...I don't know...even an earring”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

“Most of the time it's not the Europeans who belittle us. What happens when we look at them is that we belittle ourselves. When we undertake the pilgrimage, it's not just to escape the tyranny at home but also to reach to the depths of our souls. The day arrives when the guilty must return to save those who could not find the courage to leave.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“We're not stupid! We're just poor! And we have a right to insist on this distinction”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“In a brutal country like ours, where human life is 'cheap', it's stupid to destroy yourself for the sake of your beliefs. Beliefs? High ideas? Only people in rich countries can enjoy such luxuries.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“سقوط الحضارات العظيمة و تحطم ذكرياتها يشار إليه أولاً بالتداعى الأخلاقى للصغار ”
― Orhan Pamuk, The New Life

“ليست هناك سعادة أعظم من ان تصبح وجها لوجه مع بؤسك وحطامك. ليست هناك سعادة اعظم من ان تكون بعيدا عن الانظار”
― Orhan Pamuk, Other Colors

“Painting taught literature to describe.”
― Orhan Pamuk

“Estoy sufriendo las penas del infierno sin ni siquiera haber muerto.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

“Hüzün does not just paralyze the inhabitants of Instanbul, it also gives them poetic license to be paralyzed.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City