Elif Shafak Quotes & Sayings

Was he talking about the Love of God or the love between a woman and a man? Could he be referring to us? Was there such a thing as 'us'?

Unaware of my thoughts, Shams continued.
"I don't care about haram or halal. I'd rather extinguish the fire in hell and burn heaven, so that people could start loving God for no other reason than love. — Elif Shafak

In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearances ... keep both eyes closed and instead open a third eye
the eye that sees the inner realm. — Elif Shafak

She left her breast behind, the breast that covered her heart. And walked away. — Elif Shafak

You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover. — Elif Shafak

The impression she left on others and her self-perception had been sewn into a whole so consummate that she could no longer tell how much of each day was defined by what was wished upon her and how much of it was what she really wanted.
--Three Daughters of Eve. — Elif Shafak

Not every word is fit for every ear. — Elif Shafak

Mourning is like virginity. You should give it to the one who deserves it most. — Elif Shafak

Zhadi. Of admirers and foes, she had plenty. They said she — Elif Shafak

Speak less, mature quicker! — Elif Shafak

Whatever falls from the sky above, thou shall not curse it. That includes the rain — Elif Shafak

It is not their quantative scarcity vis-a-vis the majority that makes minorities hapless but rather their qualitative similarity. As a member of a minority group, you can be as industrious as an ant, even hit the jackpot and acquire a considerable fortune, but someday, just because you presently and will always belong to the same community, you could in an instant find yourself on par with those of your community who have idled their lives away since birth. That is why the affluent among the minorities are never affluent enough; neither are their exceptional members ever sufficiently so. — Elif Shafak

The past is a whirlpool. If you let it dominate your present moment, it will suck you in," said Shams as if he had read my thoughts. "Time is just an illusion. What you need is to live this very moment. That is all that matters. — Elif Shafak

Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything. Intellect is always cautious and advises, 'Beware too much ecstasy,' whereas love says, 'Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!' Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures. — Elif Shafak

Faith is only a word if there is no love at its center, so flaccid and lifeless, vague and hollow - not anything you could truly feel. — Elif Shafak

The Path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. — Elif Shafak

Choose Love, Love! Without the sweet life of
Love, living is a burden - as you have seen. — Elif Shafak

Never had it occurred to him that you could deceive the person you held dear. It was his first lesson in the complexity of love. — Elif Shafak

Some cities you go to because you want to; some cities you go to because they want you to. — Elif Shafak

If God was with you all along, why did you rummage around this whole time in search of Him? Because although it is a fact that He cannot be found by seeking, only those who seek can find Him. — Elif Shafak

Perhaps it took a stranger to make a woman like her speak her mind. — Elif Shafak

Life often felt unjust, but death was the biggest injustice. — Elif Shafak

It is so demanding to be born into a house full of women, where everyone loves you so overwhelmingly that they end up suffocating with their love; a house where you, as the only child, have to be more mature than all the adults around ...
But the problem is that they want me to become everything they themselves couldn't accomplish in life ...
As a result, I had to work my butt off to fulfill all their dreams at the same time. — Elif Shafak

Rebelliousness is not a good quality in a novice. — Elif Shafak

Ironically, [living in] communities of the like - minded is one of the greatest dangers of today s globalized world. And it s happening everywhere, among liberals and conservatives, agnostics and believers, the rich and the poor, East and West alike. We tend to form clusters based on similarity, and then we produce stereotypes about other clusters of people. In my opinion, one way of transcending these cultural ghettos is through the art of storytelling — Elif Shafak

We are all a little desexualized, a little defeminized. We can't carry our bodies comfortably in a society that is so bent against women. In order to be a "brain" in the public realm, we control our "bodies. — Elif Shafak

They say there is a thin line between losing yourself in God and losing your mind. — Elif Shafak

Does what we do in life matter so much? Or is it what we don't do that carries weight? — Elif Shafak

So you see, don't judge the way other people connect to God, concluded Shams. To each his own way and his own prayer. God does not take us at our word. He looks deep into our hearts. It is not the ceremonies or rituals that make a difference, but whether our hearts are sufficiently pure or not. — Elif Shafak

For apprentices everywhere - no one told us that love was the hardest craft to master — Elif Shafak

Each time I say good-bye to a place I like, I feel like I am leaving a part of me behind. I guess whether we choose to travel as much as Marco Polo did or stay in the same spot from cradle to grave, life is a sequence of births and deaths. Moments are born and moments die. For new experiences to come to light, old ones need to wither away. — Elif Shafak

There was something so infantile in the man's fright that Jahan could not help but chuckle. Children, only they, stared up with sparkling eyes, pointing at the white beast. — Elif Shafak

I know every single street in this town. And I love strolling these streets in the mornings, in the evenings, and then at night when I am merry and tipsy. I love to have breakfasts with my friends along the Bosphorus on Sundays, I love to walk alone amid the crowds. I am in love with the chaotic beauty of this city, the ferries, the music, the tales, the sadness, the colors, and the black humor ... — Elif Shafak

Politics divide us. Fiction connects. — Elif Shafak

Isn't connecting people to distant lands and culture one of the strengths of good literature? — Elif Shafak

Of three things in this life she expected no good: a man who had sold his soul to Sheitan; a woman proud of her beauty; and the news that could not wait till the morning to be delivered. — Elif Shafak

If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather. Through an illness, accident, loss or fright, one way or another, we all are faced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental, and more compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before. The only way to get closer to Truth is to expand your heart so that it will encompass all humanity and still have room for more Love. — Elif Shafak

For despite what some people say, love is not a sweet feeling bound to come and quickly go away. In many ways the twenty-first century is not that different from the thirteenth century. Both will be recorded in history as times of unprecedented religious clashes, cultural misunderstandings, and a general sense of insecurity and fear of the Other. At times like these, the need for love is greater than ever. Because love is the very essence and purpose of life. As Rumi reminds us, it hits everybody, including those who shun love - even those who use the word "romantic" as a sign of disapproval. — Elif Shafak

Most of the problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstandings. Don't ever take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love, language as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence. — Elif Shafak

Love exists within each of us from the moment we are born and waits to be discovered from then on. — Elif Shafak

Never underestimate the power of envy. — Elif Shafak

Love can only be perfected in pain. — Elif Shafak

Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you — Elif Shafak

Where there is love, there is bound to be heartache. — Elif Shafak

Beyond wildest dreams, strange things happened to people when they were ready for the unusual and the unexpected. — Elif Shafak

One thing that has helped me personally in the past was to stop interfering with the people around me and getting frustrated when I couldn't change them. Instead of intrusion and passivity, may I suggest submission?
Some people make the mistake of confusing "submission" with "weakness", whereas it is anything but. Submission is a form of peaceful acceptance of the terms of the universe, including the things we are currently unable to change or comprehend. — Elif Shafak

No matter who we are or where we live, deep inside we all feel incomplete. It's like we have lost something and need to get it back. Just what that something is, most of us never find out. And of those who do, even fewer manage to go out and look for it. — Elif Shafak

There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of stars in the visible universe. Don't confuse power-driven, self-centered people with true mentors. A genuine spiritual master will not direct your attention to himself or herself and will not expect absolute obedience or utter admiration from you, but instead will help you to appreciate and admire your inner self. True mentors are as transparent as glass. They let the Light of God pass through them. — Elif Shafak

You say you are ready to deliver your knowledge to another person. You want to hold the Truth in your palm as if it were a precious pearl and offer it to someone special. But opening up someone's heart to spiritual light is no small task for a human being. — Elif Shafak

If you couldn't help harboring higher aspirations in life, you should at least harbor only simple desires, reduced in passion and ambition, as if you had been de-generized and now had only enough strength to be average. — Elif Shafak

Tell me, if you teach someone the alphabet, how can you stop him from reading? When one has tasted the elixir of love, how can she not thirst for it? Once you have seen yourself through your beloved's eyes, you're not the same person any longer. I was blind all this time, and now that my eyes are open, i'm afraid of light. But i don't want to live like a mole. Not anymore. — Elif Shafak

One of the most notorious slogans of ultra-nationalism in Turkey has been 'Either love it or leave it!' It is meant to block all kinds of fault-finding from within. The implication is that if you criticize your country or your state, you are showing disrespect, not to mention a lack of patriotism, in which case you had better take your leave. If you do stay, however, the implication is that you love your homeland, in which case you had better not voice any critical opinions. This black-and-white mentality is an obstacle to social progress. But it is not only Turkish ultra- nationalism that is fuelled by a dualistic mentality. All kinds of extremist, exclusivist discourses are similarly reductionist and sheathed in tautology. Either/or approaches ask us to make a choice, all the while spreading the fallacy that it is not possible to have multiple belongings, multiple roots, multiple loves. — Elif Shafak

Motherlands are beloved, no doubt; sometimes they can also be exasperating and maddening.Yet I have also come to learn that for writers and poets for whom national borders and cultural barriers are there to be questioned, again and again, there is, in truth, only one motherland, perpetual and portable.
Storyland. — Elif Shafak

Level, they use this as a poor excuse to disregard the rules of the sharia. Drinking, dancing, music, poetry, and painting — Elif Shafak

Perhaps this is why lunatics have a harder time dating, not because they are off the wall but because it is hard to find soemone who is willing to date so many people in one person. — Elif Shafak

Pity the fool who thinks the boundaries of his mortal mind are the boundaries of God the Almighty. Pity the ignorant who assume they can negotiate and settle debts with God. Do such people think God is a grocer who attempts to weigh our virtues and our wrongdoings on two separate scales? Is He a clerk meticulously writing down our sins in His accounting book so as to make us pay Him back someday? Is this their notion of Oneness? — Elif Shafak

There was so much filth to clean up; so many broken pieces to fix; so many errors to correct. Every morning she left her house she let out a quiet sigh, as if in one breath she could will away detritus of the previous day.

--Three Daughters of Eve — Elif Shafak

In truth, food (within reason, don't go overboard) and beverages (non-alcoholic, we need our brains sober) are encouraged- not only because they lift the mood and help the intellect to focus, but also because it is hard to feel hostile towards someone you share bread with. — Elif Shafak

Destiny does not mean that your life has been strictly predetermined. Therefore, to leave everything to fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of the universe is all-pervading and it is composed on ... different levels. Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well you play is entirely in your hands. — Elif Shafak

Instead of an outer-oriented jihad - defined as "the war against infidels" and carried out by many in those days just as in the present - Rumi stood up for an inner-oriented jihad where the aim was to struggle against and ultimately prevail over one's ego, nafs. — Elif Shafak

The past is anything but bygone — Elif Shafak

What is the point of roaming the world when it's the same misery everywhere? — Elif Shafak

Do not go with the flow. Be the flow. — Elif Shafak

The water that scares you rejuvenates me. For me I can swim, and swim I shall. — Elif Shafak

Bountiful is your life, full and complete. Or so you think, until someone comes along and makes you realize what you have been missing all this time. Like a mirror that reflects what is absent rather than present, he shows you the void in your soul - the void you have resisted seeing. That person can be a lover, a friend, or a spiritual master. Sometimes it can be a child to look after. What matters is to find the soul that will complete
yours. All the prophets have given the same advice: Find the one who will be your mirror!. — Elif Shafak

She never confronted the death of anything, be it a habit, a phase, or a marriage, even when the end stood right in front of her, plain and inevitable. — Elif Shafak

Even a speck of love should not go unappreciated, because, as Rumi said, love is the water of life. — Elif Shafak

There were different ways of growing old, perhaps. Some withered first in body, others in mind, yet others in soul. — Elif Shafak

Let love take hold of you and change you. At first through its presence then through its absence. — Elif Shafak

Silence is the worst. Whenever a thick cloud of silence descends, the yapping voices inside me become all the more audible, rising to the surface one by one. I like to believe I know all the women in this inner harm of mine but perhaps there are those I have never met. Together they make a choir that does not know how to tone down. I call them the Choir of Discordant Voices. It is a bizarre choir, now that I think about it. Not only are they all off-key, none of them can read notes. In fact, there is no music at all in what they do. They all talk at the same time, each in a voice louder than the other, never listening to what is being said. They make me afraid of my own diversity, the fragmentation inside of me. That is why I do not like the quiet. I even find it unpleasant, unsettling. — Elif Shafak

God is a meticulous clockmaker. So precise is His order that everything on earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately. For each there is a time to love and a time to die. — Elif Shafak

The sharia is like a candle," said Shams of Tabriz. "It provides us with much valuable light. But let us not forget that a candle helps us to go from one place to another in the dark. If we forget where we are headed and instead concentrate on the candle, what good is it? — Elif Shafak

Cities are erected on spiritual columns. Like giant mirrors, they reflect the hearts of their residents. If those hearts darken and lose faith, cities will lose their glamour. — Elif Shafak

We are all half fool, half wise , there is no wisdom without foolishness and no pride without shame . — Elif Shafak

I have come to believe that if there is one shape that reaches out to all of us, it is the dome. That is where all the distinctions disappear and every single sound, whether of joy or sorrow, merges into one huge silence of all-encompassing love. When I think of the world this way, I feel dazed and disoriented, and cannot tell any longer where the future begins and the past ends, where the West falls and the East rises. — Elif Shafak

Deep inside, Ella blamed herself. She hadn't aged well — Elif Shafak

God created sufferings so that joy might appear through its opposite. Things become manifest through opposites. Since God has no opposite, He remains hidden. — Elif Shafak

I thank Him for all the things He has both given and denied me, for only He knows what is best for me. — Elif Shafak

But the story didn't end there. Almost 800 years later, the spirits of Shams & Rumi are still alive today,whirling amid us somewhere ... — Elif Shafak

If you want to destroy something, be it a blemish, acne or the human soul, all you need to do is surround it with walls. — Elif Shafak

Resentment is a cage, talent is a captured bird. — Elif Shafak

I see what you mean. It must be a huge relief, and an easy way out, to think the devil is always outside of us. ( ... ) we would stop looking for Sheitan outside and instead focus on ourselves. What we need is sincere self-examination. Not being on the watch for the faults of others. (p. 257). — Elif Shafak

When something needs to be said, I'll say it even if the whole world grabs me by the neck and tells me to keep quiet. — Elif Shafak

While the parts change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing ever really changes. — Elif Shafak

Male writers are thought of as "writers" first and then "men". As for female writers, they are first "feamle" and only then "writers". — Elif Shafak

To the one in the skies, this city must look like a scintillating pattern of speckled glows in all directions, like a firecracker going off amid thick darkness. Right now the urban pattern glowing here is in hues of orange, ginger, and ochre. It is a configuration of sparkles, each dot a light lit by someone awake at this hour. From where the Celestial Gaze is situated, from that high above, all these sporadically lit bulbs must seem in perfect harmony, constantly flickering, as if coding a cryptic message to God. — Elif Shafak

Because time is a drop in the ocean, and you cannot measure off one drop against another to see which one is bigger, which one is smaller. — Elif Shafak

There s a metaphor which I love: living like a drawing compass. As you know, one leg of the compass is static, rooted in a place. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a wide circle, constantly moving. Like that, my fiction as well. One part of it is rooted in Istanbul with strong Turkish roots. But the other part travels the world, connecting to different cultures. — Elif Shafak

You think you cannot live anymore. You think that the light of your soul has been put out and that you will stay in the dark forever. But when you are engulfed by such solid darkness, when you have both eyes closed to the world, a third eye opens in your heart. And only then do you come to realize that eyesight conflicts with inner knowledge. No eye sees so clear and sharp as the eye of love. After grief comes another season, another valley, another you. And the lover who is nowhere to be found, you start to see everywhere.
You see him in the drop of water that falls into the ocean, in the high tide that follows the waxing of the moon, or in the morning wind that spreads its fresh smell; you see him in the geomancy symbols in the sand, in the tiny particles of rock glittering under the sun, in the smile of a newborn baby, or in your throbbing vein. How can you say Shams is gone when he is everywhere and in everything? — Elif Shafak

The Iron Rule of prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: If you are as fragile as a tea glass, either find a way to never encounter burning water and hope to marry an ideal husband or get yourself laid and broken as soon as possible. Alternatively, stop being a tea-glass woman! — Elif Shafak

When I met you, Peri, I thought this girl doesn't know it but she carries the three passion of Bertrand Russel: the longing for love, the search for knowledge and unbearable compassion for the suffering of mankind. — Elif Shafak

Hell is in the here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy, or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell. — Elif Shafak

Little did she know that this was going to be not just any book, but the book that changed her life. In the time she was reading it, her life would be rewritten. — Elif Shafak

The past in an interpretation. The future is an illusion. — Elif Shafak

May love always be with you, and you always surrounded by love — Elif Shafak

The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new Self to be born, hardship is necessary. — Elif Shafak

The creature who arrived at your door, having bitten the hand that fed him all along, would not hesitate to sink his teeth into your flesh once he was inside. — Elif Shafak

Invisible strands of solidarity threaded among strangers who, upon finding out they shared the same religion or nationality, developed an instant affinity. — Elif Shafak

I hunt everywhere for a life worth living and a knowledge worth knowing. Having roots nowhere, I have everywhere to go. — Elif Shafak

Istanbul being a city where houses were not built in accordance with road plans but road plans made so as not to upset the location of the houses. — Elif Shafak

Before passing through the gates of a town I've never visited, I take a minute to salute its saints - the dead and the living, the known and the hidden. Never in my life have I arrived at a new place without getting the blessing of its saints first. It makes no difference to me whether that place belongs to Muslims, Christians, or Jews. I believe that the saints are beyond such trivial nominal distinctions. A saint belongs to all humanity. — Elif Shafak