Top 380 Elif Shafak Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “He always had an excuse – if a cat wants to eat her kittens, she’ll say they look like mice.”

— Elif Shafak

102. “We live in an age in which there is too much information, less knowledge and even less wisdom. That ratio needs to be reversed. We definitely need less information, more knowledge, and much more wisdom.”

— Elif Shafak

103. “She had so much love to give and yet no one demanding it.”

— Elif Shafak

104. “But Istanbul is a city of easy forgettings. Things are written in water over there, except the works of my master, which are written in stone.”

— Elif Shafak

105. “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.”

— Elif Shafak

106. “No wonder the Prophet Muhammad said, “In this world take pity on three kinds of people. The rich man who has lost his fortune, the well-respected man who has lost his respectability, and the wise man who is surrounded by ignorants.”

— Elif Shafak

107. “At the end of the day, we all remember for the same reason we try to forget: to survive in a world that neither understands nor values us.”

— Elif Shafak

108. “We are scared of happiness, you see. From a tender age we have been taught that in the air, in the Etesian wind, an uncanny exchange is at work, so that for every morsel of contentment there will follow a morsel of suffering, for every peal of laughter there is a drop of tear ready to roll, because that is the way of this strange world, and hence we try not to look too happy, even on days when we might feel so inside.”

— Elif Shafak

109. “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

110. “Let love take hold of you and change you. At first through its presence then through its absence.”

— Elif Shafak

111. “Arboreal-time is cyclical, recurrent, perennial; the past and the future breathe within this moment, and the present does not necessarily flow in one direction; instead it draws circles within circles, like the rings you find when you cut us down.”

— Elif Shafak

112. “If families resemble trees, as they say, arborescent structures with entangled roots and individual branches jutting out at awkward angles, family traumas are like thick, translucent resin dripping from a cut in the bark. They trickle down generations.”

— Elif Shafak

113. “Wherever there is a war and painful partition, there will be no winners, human or otherwise.”

— Elif Shafak

114. “Because in real life, unlike in history books, stories come to us not in their entirety but in bits and pieces, broken segments and partial echoes, a full sentence here, a fragment there, a clue hidden in between.”

— Elif Shafak

115. “For apprentices everywhere – no one told us that love was the hardest craft to master.”

— Elif Shafak

116. “I’ve been thinking that you are my country. Is that a strange thing to say? Without you, I don’t have a home in this world; I am a felled tree, my roots severed all round; you can topple me with the touch of a finger.”

— Elif Shafak

117. “It was an ordinary spring day in Istanbul, a long and leaden afternoon like so many others, when she discovered, with a hollowness in her stomach, that she was capable of killing someone.”

— Elif Shafak

118. “Cartography is another name for stories told by winners. For stories told by those who have lost, there isn’t one.”

— Elif Shafak

119. “The water that scares you rejuvenates me. For me I can swim, and swim I shall.”

— Elif Shafak

120. “Sometimes, for the soul to thrive, the heart needs to be broken, son.”

— Elif Shafak

121. “Resentment is a cage, talent is a captured bird. Break the cage, let the bird take off and soar high. Architecture is a mirror that reflects the harmony and balance present in the universe. If you do not foster these qualities in your heart, you cannot build.”

— Elif Shafak

122. “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

123. “Just because you think it’s safe here, it doesn’t mean this is the right place for you, her heart countered. Sometimes where you feel most safe is where you least belong.”

— Elif Shafak

124. “I’m perpetually in a limbo. Maybe I want too many things at once and nothing passionately enough.”

— Elif Shafak

125. “If you have no interest in their answers, then do not ask questions.”

— Elif Shafak

126. “Certainty was to curiosity what the sun was to the wings of Icarus. Where one shone forcefully, the other couldn’t survive. With certainty came arrogance; with arrogance, blindness; with blindness, darkness; and with darkness, more certainty.”

— Elif Shafak

127. “People assume it’s a matter of personality, the difference between optimists and pessimists. But I believe it all comes down to an inability to forget. The greater your powers of retention, the slimmer your chances at optimism.”

— Elif Shafak

128. “People always told her to fight depression. But I have a feeling that as soon as we see something as our enemy we make it stronger. Like a boomerang. You hurl it away, it comes back and hits you with equal force.”

— Elif Shafak

129. “The faces we see in the mirrors are not really ours. Just reflections. We can find our true selves only in the faces of the Other... We strive for the opposite: to multiple everyone into a hundred belongings, a thousand beating hearts. If I am a human, I should be big enough to feel for people everywhere.”

— Elif Shafak

130. “There’s something about love that resembles faith. It’s kind of a blind trust, isn’t it? The sweetest euphoria. The magic of connecting with a being beyond our limited, familiar selves. But if we get carried away by love- or by faith- it turns into a dogma, a fixation. The sweetness becomes sour. We suffer in the hands of gods that we ourselves created.”

— Elif Shafak

131. “Instead of intrusion or 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

132. “A human being, every human being, is complicated – layers upon layers of ideas, feelings, perceptions, recollections, reactions, desires and dreams. By placing us into boxes they are denying us our own truth. By placing others into boxes we are denying them their own truth. And so it goes.”

— Elif Shafak

133. “Wisdom consists of ten parts: nine parts of silence, one part of words.”

— Elif Shafak

134. “There was something inscrutable about the collective loss of reason: if enough eyes experienced the same hallucination, it turned into a truth; if enough people laughed at the same misery, it became a funny little joke.”

— Elif Shafak

135. “I didn’t make falafel. It’s not even our cuisine.”

— Elif Shafak

136. “Kader ’, people called it – ‘destiny’ – and said no more, because people always gave simple names to the complex things that frightened them.”

— Elif Shafak

137. “Love can only be perfected in pain.”

— Elif Shafak

138. “At night, flooded with light, Istanbul shone brighter than the eyes of a young bride.”

— Elif Shafak

139. “Unlike what nationalist demagogues claim, belonging is not a once-and-for-all condition, a static identity tattooed on our skin; it is a constant self-examination and dynamic revision of where we are, who we are, and where we want to be.”

— Elif Shafak

140. “No one can survive alone – except the Almighty God. And remember, in the desert of life, the fool travels alone and the wise by caravan.”

— Elif Shafak

141. “Maybe we give other names to grief because we are too scared to call it by its name.”

— Elif Shafak

142. “Before leaving the hall for the stage, Rumi recited a poem, “With your grace, grief turns to joy. With your praise, life becomes infinite. Although love is a trouble, it is a joy. Though this wine is full of headaches, still it delights. Though being occupied with love is difficult, how sweet it is to trade hearts with you, oh beloved.”

— Elif Shafak

143. “Masters are great but books are better. He who has a library has a thousand teachers. Your Prophet said, “Seek lore, even if it be in China.” Mine said, “God created us because He wanted to be known.” Ignorant men think we are here to fight and make wars and to couple and have children. Nay, our job is to expand our knowledge.”

— Elif Shafak

144. “Even trees of different species show solidarity with one another regardless of their differences, which is more than you can say for so many humans.”

— Elif Shafak

145. “Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.”

— Elif Shafak

146. “Busbecq believed there were two blessings in life: books and friends. And that they should be possessed in inverse quantities: many books, but only a handful of friends.”

— Elif Shafak

147. “Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, Love can only be perfected in pain.”

— Elif Shafak

148. “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

149. “It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is far more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God. I.”

— Elif Shafak

150. “Listen, canim, I know you might get cross with me for saying this, but remember, good advice is always annoying and bad advice never is. So if what I say irritates you, take it as good advice.”

— Elif Shafak