The Architect's Apprentice

by Elif Shafak

It’s odd how faces, solid and visible as they are, evaporate, while words, made of breath, stay.

‘Hide your face, seal your heart,’ said Sangram. ‘Otherwise it won’t be long before they make a hash of both.’

‘In order to gain mastery, you need to dismantle as much as you put together.’

though, as too often happens with blissful days, they would be appreciated only when they were no more.

‘If you wish to excel at your craft, you have to convince the universe why it should be you rather than someone else.’

‘Does what we do in life matter so much? Or is it what we don’t do that carries weight?’

Little did he know, back then, that the worth of one’s faith depended not on how solid and strong it was, but on how many times one would lose it and still be able to get it back.

life was the sum of the choices one did not make; the paths yearned for but not taken.