When you invent something, you're drawing on reservoirs of knowledge that you already have. It's only when you're faithful to the truth that something can come to you from the outside. Elif Batuman More Quotes by Elif Batuman More Quotes From Elif Batuman I have always known my mother as an agnostic, less certain than my father that the universe hadn't been created by some great intelligence. But she would get even more annoyed than my father did when she thought that people were invoking God to do their jobs for them - for example, when she saw a bus with a sticker saying 'Allah Protect Us.' Elif Batuman god mother father people Every time a meteor comes close to the earth, we all think about the end of the world - but our internal soundtrack doesn't turn off. We're also thinking about pizza or passing a slow tractor or making a turn, and for a magical instant, our lives seem to be in conversation with the stars. Elif Batuman stars time world thinking My parents were educated in the Turkish system and went straight from high school to medical school; my mom, who had skipped a grade, was dissecting corpses at age seventeen. Growing up in America, I think I envied my parents' education. By comparison, everything I did in school seemed so sort of low-stakes and infantilizing. Elif Batuman parents medical age education Listing and counting have a spooky, magical power, and the holiday season is a spooky, magical time. Elif Batuman holiday-season holiday power time If, for a moment, it seemed that September 11th could be identified with Iraq, the illusion was short-lived. Elif Batuman moment illusion september iraq I like a novel to have a certain amount of dead time and filler - unremarkable scenery, descriptions of getting from point A to point B, dialogue in which not much is said - in between the parts that are electric. With a long work that you don't read in one sitting, I think that makes for the best reading experience. Elif Batuman best experience work time Actually, I've taught creative writing in Turkey, at an English language university, where the students were native Turkish speakers, but they were writing their essays in English, and they were very interesting - even the sense of structure, the conventions of writing, the different styles of writing. Elif Batuman english-language language writing Reading Epictetus, I realized that most of the pain in my life came not from any actual privations or insults but, rather, from the shame of thinking that they could have been avoided. Elif Batuman my-life pain life thinking Why is there an end of the year? Because the calendar imposes numerical order on time. There is a natural fitness in the celebration of the New Year, a holiday of numbers imposed on things, with lists, as well as with Advent calendars and songs like 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.' Elif Batuman holiday christmas fitness time Lists are based on realism - on the coldly contemplated finitude of resources. Elif Batuman based realism resources lists The first time I held an African drum in my hands was at Koc University in a forest in the northern suburbs of Istanbul. Elif Batuman forest university time hands When I was growing up, many of my relatives had never seen a black person before. Today, hundreds, maybe thousands of Africans live in Istanbul's old city alone. It's hard to imagine their lives in their human totality. Elif Batuman alone city black today The Himalayan glaciers, China's trade surplus, Olympic ice hockey - the world is full of pressing subjects that people never consult me about. Elif Batuman never me people world The first modern novel was already a product, even an expression, of negative criticism: 'Don Quixote' contains a quite explicit critique of the chivalric romance and its insufficiency to account for the way real life feels when you get up in the morning in 17th-century Spain. Elif Batuman you morning life way Much as there are things about our own life stories that we can learn only from the systematic study of our dreams, there are things about the human condition that we can learn only from a systematic study of literature. Elif Batuman own dreams literature life Even in novels where the love relationship isn't the focus, I feel like it's often there, and the background is some barometer of whether this is a happy or sad story or whether this is a successful or unsuccessful life. Elif Batuman sad love relationship life Imagination is really dependent on memory and observation, these things that we think of as part of nonfiction writing, actually. Elif Batuman memory think imagination writing It's so embarrassing and painful to be young. Elif Batuman embarrassing painful young One of the most painful parts of a breakup is having the feeling that your life is a story, and then the other person leaves and takes the story with them. And you're left there without it. You're left in this version of life that's basically a succession of events and interactions that don't seem to be going anywhere. Elif Batuman life-is-a feeling you life I like to think that I know a lot of words, but I definitely don't know all of them. Elif Batuman words like think know
