We cannot abandon this rabbit hole for fear of a traumatic encounter with our own culture. Elif Safak More Quotes by Elif Safak More Quotes From Elif Safak I remember a time when it was ok to make fun of politicians and powerful people. Now, it's not ok anymore. We've forgotten how to laugh. Elif Safak powerful fun people In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state - as if this state were fragile and needed protection - when in fact, it's too powerful already. Elif Safak turkeys democracy powerful I believe in optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect. But my hope is the people, the society, which is ahead of the government. Elif Safak optimism government believe When societies go backwards and slide into authoritarianism, nationalism, and tribalism, machismo and sexism are also emboldened. Elif Safak go sexism nationalism backwards If there is no love between the author and the story, there is no love between the reader and the story. Elif Safak between story no-love love Politicians and leaders who see the media as 'the enemy within' divide society into two clashing cultural camps. Populist demagogues benefit from binary oppositions. Elif Safak politicians media society enemy I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities. Elif Safak cultures just like love Art and literature should help us to get out of our mental cocoons. Elif Safak us help literature art Part of me always felt like the other, the outsider, the observer. My father had two sons with his second wife, who I didn't meet until my late 20s. I was always on the periphery. In Madrid, I was the only Turk in a very international school, so I had to start thinking about identity. All these things affected me. Elif Safak me wife father thinking Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me. Books saved me. So, I do believe through stories we can learn to change, we can learn to empathize and be more connected with the universe and with humanity. Elif Safak me change humanity believe The lack of trust in supranational entities and cosmopolitan elite creates a fertile ground for tribalist belongings and reactionary politics. Elif Safak elite ground trust politics I realized over the years if I'm writing about humor, irony, satire, I much prefer to do that in English. And if there is sorrow, melancholy, longing, I much prefer to do that in Turkish. Each language has its own strength to me, and I feel connected and attached to both Turkish and English. I dream in more than one language. Elif Safak feel me strength humor I spent my entire childhood observing people. I still do. Elif Safak still observing childhood people I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother, a divorcee. Elif Safak grow find single mother I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food. Elif Safak like sadness food sweet I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a puppeteer pulling strings. For me, it's a scary, chaotic process over which I have little control. Words demand other words, characters resist me. Elif Safak words myself me drunk God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and gender boundaries. Elif Safak create gender boundaries god For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God. Elif Safak feeling me universe god Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. Elif Safak solitude lonely writing fun The only way to learn writing is by writing. Talent, as charming as it sounds, amounts to no more than 12 per cent of the process. Work is 80 per cent. The remaining 8 per cent is 'luck' or 'zeitgeist' - in short, things that are not in our hands. Elif Safak talent luck work hands
