Latest Orhan Pamuk Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I am proud to be a Turk, and to write in Turkish about Turkey - and to have been translated into about 40 languages. But I don't want to politicize things by dramatizing them.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Writing, Turkeys, Want

• If Turkey become a member of the EU, of course Turks would lose a part of this identity, just as Europe would lose a part of its own. It would also be a different Europe then. Accepting Turkey into the EU is an ambitious political endeavor of historical proportions. Europe would become a strong, multi-religious unit.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Religious, Strong, Europe

• Great changes in the direction of peace have often come from people who were no great advocates of peace to begin with.

  Orhan Pamuk

  People, Great Change

• Turkey, with its political intolerance, as I have described it, is prepared to march forward, to break with its taboo about the Armenians, and is making great strides with respect to human rights and freedom of speech so that it can join the European Union. This alone shows how powerful the European idea is.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Powerful, Rights, Turkeys

• When Turkey began approaching the EU, I wasn't the only one who worried that the dark stain in Turkey's history - or rather the history of the Ottoman Empire - could become a problem one day. In other words, what happened to the Armenians in World War I. That's why I couldn't leave the issue untouched.

  Orhan Pamuk

  War, Dark, Turkeys

• When something explosive is kept hidden away, a tension builds within that must ultimately be released.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Tension, Explosives

• Many great authors of the 19th century wrote under conditions of strict censorship. The great thing about the art of writing a novel, is that you can write about anything. All you have to say is that it's fiction.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Art, Writing, Fiction

• My diary has its own kind of magic. It gives me the feeling of having accomplished something. On days when I don't have time for this, I feel tortured.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Giving, Feelings, Magic

• Writing my own diary is the best form of remembrance, but only for my own use. I need these notes; it's like an impulse.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Writing, Remembrance, Needs

• I need a moment of time for myself every day, like a child playing with his things. When I travel, I routinely find a quiet place, open my diary and write something in it.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Children, Writing, Needs

• I very much enjoy reading other writers' diaries, mainly because it makes me ask myself: Are they like you? How do they think?

  Orhan Pamuk

  Reading, Thinking, Diaries

• I do not believe in a personal connection to God; that's where it gets transcendental.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Believe, Connections, Transcendental

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• I identify with my culture, but I am happy to be living on a tolerant, intellectual island where I can deal with Dostoyevsky and Sartre, both great influences for me.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Islands, Intellectual, Culture

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• I consider myself a person who comes from a Muslim culture. In any case, I would not say that I'm an atheist. So I'm a Muslim who associates historical and cultural identification with this religion.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Atheist, Historical, Culture

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• The bloody years of war and all the atrocities in European history have taught the Europeans that secular politics free of religious hatred is mainly a question of peace. This concept is not anchored in the same way in the consciousness of Turks, which has to do with the fact that the secular was forced upon us by the army.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Religious, War, Army

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Religious, Literature, Complicated

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• I sometimes joke that I am the first writer of historical fiction who can look out his window and point to the objects in his novels. I have a view of the entrance to the Bosporus, the old city, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Blue, Views, Cities

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• East and West are coming together. Whether in peace or anarchy - they are coming together. There needn't be a clash between East and West, between Islam and Europe.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Europe, Islam, Together

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• More than anything I am a novelist. But for me, an author's job is not only to create linguistically accomplished works. As an author I also want to stimulate discussion.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Jobs, Novelists, Want

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• It's a great relief for me that no one will ask me anymore: "Orhan, when will you get the Nobel Prize?"

  Orhan Pamuk

  Relief, Nobel, Ask Me

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• Censorship should never be allowed. One should be able to say anything. But I refuse to let politics be foisted on me.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Say Anything, Able, Censorship

  "SPIEGEL Interview with Orhan Pamuk 'No One Drives Me into Exile'". Interview with Dieter Bednarz and Annette Grossbongardt, www.spiegel.de. May 2, 2007.

• I believe strongly in an author's moral responsibility. But his first obligation is to write good books.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Believe, Book, Writing

  "SPIEGEL Interview with Orhan Pamuk 'No One Drives Me into Exile'". Interview with Dieter Bednarz and Annette Grossbongardt, www.spiegel.de. May 2, 2007.

• It's very gratifying to me to see my works bringing people closer to my country.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Country, People

• It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people and their emotions closer to my readers, not explain Turkish politics.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Turkeys, People, Culture

• No one drives me into exile, not even the nationalists.

  Orhan Pamuk

  Exile

  "SPIEGEL Interview with Orhan Pamuk 'No One Drives Me into Exile'". Interview with Dieter Bednarz and Annette Grossbongardt, www.spiegel.de. May 2, 2007.