Elif Şafak Quotes

If you carry a sword, you obey the sword, not the other way round. Nobody can hold a weapon and keep their hands clear of blood at the same time.

The four borders of the Taj Mahal are designed to be identical, as if there were a mirror situated on one side, though one can never tell on which one. Stone reflected in the water. God reflected in human beings. Love reflected in heartbreak. Truth reflected in stories. We live, toil and die under the same invisible dome. Rich and poor, Mohammedan and baptized, free and slave, man and woman, Sultan and mahout, master and apprentice … 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 this world in such a 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.

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

لا تحاول أن تقاوم التغييرات التي تعترض سبيلك، بل دع الحياة تعيش فيك. ولا تقلق إذا قلبت حياتك رأسا على عقب. فكيف يمكنك أن تعرف أن الجانب الذي اعتدت عليه أفضل من الجانب الذي سيأتي؟

Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so short-sighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lover’s of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full. (9)

The world is no longer the same for the one who has fallen in love, the one who is at its very centre; it can only spin faster from now on.

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.....

Real filth is the one inside. The rest simply washes off. There is only one type of dirt that cannot be cleansed with pure waters, and that is the stain of hatred and bigotry contaminating the soul. You can purify your body through abstinence and fasting, but only love will purify your heart.

قاعدة أخرى
الوحدة والخلوة شيئان مختلفان , فعندما تكون وحيدا
من السهل أن تخدع نفسك ويخيل إليك أنك تسير على الطريق القويم
أما الخلوة فهي أفضل لنا لأنها تعني أنك تكون وحدك من دون أن تشعر أنك وحيد
لكن في نهاية الأمر , من الأفضل لك أن تبحث عن شخص
شخص يكون بمثابة مرآة لك
تذكر أنك لا تستطيع أن ترى نفسك حقا ,إلا في قلب شخص آخر
وبوجود الله في داخلك.

الحياة مجرد مصادفات مع ان الامر يحتاج الى جني لكي يتسوعب هذا اامر

كان حبّها معوضا عن الأشياء الضائعة و الزمن الضائع

ليس العشق تسميات ولا علامات ولا تعاريف إنه كما هو؛ نقي وبسيط.

If you want to change the way others treat you, you
should first change the way you treat
yourself. Unless you learn to love yourself, fully
and sincerely, there is no way you can be loved. Once you achieve that stage, however, be thankful for every thorn others might throw at you. It is a sign that you will soon be showered in roses.

whenever you got angry with someone, you should replace the face of that person in your mind with the face of someone you love ...perhaps you could find something to like in him.

Миналото е въпрос на тълкуване. Бъдещето е илюзия. Светът не се движи като по права черта през времето и не върви от миналото към бъдещето. Обратното, времето се движи на безкрайни спирали през и вътре в нас.
Вечността не е безкрайно време, тя е безвремие.
Ако искаш да постигнеш вечно просветление, премахни от съзнанието си миналото и бъдещето и живей в настоящия миг.