Elif Safak Quotes

When societies go backwards and slide into authoritarianism, nationalism, and tribalism, machismo and sexism are also emboldened.

Elif Safak

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• What I'm trying to do is to write a story. If you take something from it, that's wonderful; if you don't, that's wonderful as well.

  

  Malorie Blackman
  • Trying
  • You
  • Story

• The U.S. tax code was written by A students. Every April 15, we have to pay somebody who got an A in accounting to keep ourselves from being sent to jail.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Tax
  • April
  • Accounting

• But it's the particularity of a place, the physical experience of being in a place, that makes it onto the page. That's why I don't just do library research. I very rarely write about somewhere I haven't been.

  

  Hari Kunzru
  • Why
  • Experience
  • Library

• I have three Defensive Players of the Year. Only one other player has done that. But being a defensive lineman, it's hard to control the game.

  

  J. J. Watt
  • Done
  • Game
  • Control

• I would love to work with Jack White or Kanye West.

  

  Fefe Dobson
  • Work
  • Love
  • White

• Growing up, I never imagined I would be an actor.

  

  Lance Reddick
  • Up
  • Growing
  • Never

• You might say that I'm the Michelangelo of the dress business.

  

  Oleg Cassini
  • Business
  • You
  • Dress

• Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any.

  

  Cab Calloway
  • Fun
  • Never
  • Segregation

• I am the first one to go to university in my family. I am the first writer as well. My dad is a retired policeman, and my mom works for a glass-processing company. She is health-and-safety manager, and my stepfather is a plumber. I have four half siblings, one from my mom's marriage and three from my dad's marriage, so we are kind of scattered.

  

  Samantha Shannon
  • Family
  • Dad
  • Health

• I didn't do the typical things that young kids do.

  

  Balthazar Getty
  • Kids
  • Things
  • Young

• I always trained hard in my life to win the title, and I will train twice as hard to stay at the top.

  

  Rafael dos Anjos
  • Life
  • Win
  • My Life

• Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

  

  Rainer Maria Rilke
  • Human
  • Distance
  • Wonderful

• I'm interested in seeking projects no matter where, no matter if it is in the United States, whether in Chile, whether in Venezuela.

  

  Kate del Castillo
  • Matter
  • United States
  • Where

• It took me a long time to realize you don't choose what you're famous for.

  

  D. B. Sweeney
  • Time
  • Long
  • Famous

• In Kansas City, most of the time, if we'd have made it to the playoffs, we would have been happy. But our team wasn't that good.

  

  Zack Greinke
  • Time
  • Good
  • Happy

• I was always crazy about New York, dependent on it, scared of it - well, it is dangerous - but beyond that there was the pressure of being young and of not yet having done work you really liked, trademark work, breakthrough work.

  

  Harold Brodkey
  • Work
  • Done
  • Crazy

• Oh, I love making independent films, it's such a special, magical thing because you collaborate with a small group of people and everyone's pitching in. You'll see producers setting up the lunch table and the sound guy driving a van. We're all really there because we want to be.

  

  Olivia Thirlby
  • People
  • Lunch
  • Magical

• Trump is a potential disaster as commander-in-chief-uninformed, volatile, poor judgment. Hard to believe this is the candidate of a major political party.

  

  Barry McCaffrey
  • Believe
  • Political
  • Party

• I love the comparison with Aaliyah and Timbaland, because Aaliyah is a legend, and there is a large cinematic feel to Timbaland's sound, but what I do is different.

  

  SZA
  • Different
  • Legend

• It may sound funny, but it's true: I tried to put myself through the 12-step program. I didn't want to attend a real meeting; my role didn't really require that, and I feel those meetings are sort of sacred, and they're anonymous for a reason. I tried to deal with some of my love of snacks - and I relapsed a lot.

  

  Octavia Spencer
  • True
  • Funny
  • Feel

• I don't care if I'm beautiful; I don't care what I am on the outside. It isn't about the outside.

  

  LaDonna Adrian Gaines
  • Beautiful

• Everybody has this sack they're carrying. Some are heavier. Some are lighter. But no one doesn't have it. And if you think someone doesn't have it, they have a bigger one than you imagine.

  

  Jack Antonoff Fun.
  • Think
  • You
  • Someone

• When societies go backwards and slide into authoritarianism, nationalism, and tribalism, machismo and sexism are also emboldened.

  

  Elif Safak