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Istanbul Quotes

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Istanbul Quotes

“I lost a piece of my heart and my soul with you. I buried the piece in the graveyard stretching from Yedikule to Edirnekapı where trees sustain the lives of the dead Istanbulites. Give love to love; love belongs to love. Remember in the times of roaming mortality on land and sea to take a bite of my apple when you let go of your fears. Scared humans are not alive; they inhibited their souls in the realm of the dead. Is it not funny that fear is supposed to help us survive, but it can make us stop living?! Is there a more dangerous threat than living, feeling alive, feeling full of life? Remember to keep the lines clear so you can have a piece of my apple and a cup of my coffee.”

LoveHurtHuman NatureMortalitySyriaIstanbul
Book:Tiger and Clay: Syria Fragments
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“So far I had been travelling alone with my handbook and my Western Railway timetable: I was happiest finding my own way and did not require a liaison man. It had been my intention to stay on the train, without bothering about arriving anywhere: sight-seeing was a way of passing the time, but, as I had concluded in Istanbul, it was an activity very largely based on imaginative invention, like rehearsing your own play in stage sets from which all the actors had fled.”

MenWayPlayActorsMy OwnSeeingStageActivityFindingsSightTrainIntentionWesternInventionPassingPassingsBotherImaginativeArrivingRailwayIstanbulRehearsingTimetablesLiaison
Book:The great railway bazaar: by train through Asia
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“Where would you like to go, what would you really like to do with your life? See Istanbul, Port Said, Nairobi, Budapest. Write a book. Smoke too many cigarettes. Fall off a cliff but get caught in a tree halfway down. Get shot at a few times in a dark alley on a Morrocan midnight. Love a beautiful woman.”

WritingSaidBookBeautifulFallDarkTreeShotsCaughtSmokeCigaretteMidnightBeautiful WomenHalfwayCliffsPortAlleysIstanbulBudapestDark AlleysNairobi
Author:Ray Bradbury
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“Its Vermeer" Kat turned to the boy who lingered in the doorway. "It's stolen" "What can I say?" Hale eased behind her and studied the painting over her shoulder. "I met a very nice man who bet me he had the best security system in Istanbul." His breath was warm on the back of her neck. "He was mistaken.”

MenBehindsBoysNiceSecurityPaintingMetsBreathsWarmShouldersNecksMistakenStolenVery NiceDoorwaysHaleIstanbulSecurity SystemsNice ManVermeer
Book:Heist Society
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“We had no desire to live in Istanbul, nor in Paris or New York. Let them have their discos and dollars, their skycrapers and supersonics transports. Let them have their radios and their color TV, hey, we have ours, don't we? But we have something they don't have. Heart. We have heart. Look, look how the light of life seeps into my very heart”

LooksHeartLightDesireNew YorkColorTvsDollarsRadioHeyParisTransportDiscoIstanbulDesire To Live
Book:The New Life: A Novel
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“I like to borrow a metaphor from the great poet and mystic Rumi who talks about living like a drawing compass. One leg of the compass is static. It is fixed and rooted in a certain spot. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a huge wide circle around the first one, constantly moving. Just like that, one part of my writing is based in Istanbul. It has strong local roots. Yet at the same time the other part travels the whole wide world, feeling connected to several cities, cultures, and peoples.”

WorldWritingFirstsWholeFeelingsMovingCertainCultureStrongCitiesPoetHugeDrawsRootsMetaphorLegsConnectedWideDrawingCirclesLocalsSpotsFixedRootedCompassMysticStaticGreat PoetIstanbulConstantly Moving
Author:Elif Safak
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“I know what kind of man it takes to get involved with something as barbarous as human trafficking.” “I get it, Swopes. He’s not the kind of man you take home to meet your stepmom.” I rethought that. “Wait a minute. Maybe my stepmom would like to meet him. Do you think he ships to Istanbul?”

ThinkingKnowsMenHumansKindHomeWaitingMinutesInvolvedShipsGet InvolvedHuman TraffickingTraffickingIstanbul
Book:The Charley Davidson Series
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“I see more people taking on the cloak of accountability, more people tiring of the blame game. If we are all connected and our actions in Australia affect us in Istanbul, then we are all to blame and all to be healers. We can't blame lawyers anymore for the 'liability' vs. common sense imbalance.”

PeopleIfsActionGamesCommonBlameConnectedLawyerCommon SenseAustraliaAccountabilityTireOur ActionsHealerCloaksLiabilityImbalanceIstanbulBlame Game
Author:Jane Siberry
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