10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World Quotes
"Never be ashamed of your tears. Cry and everyone knows you're alive."
"Perhaps it was not that different when it came to death. People thought you changed into a corpse the instant you exhaled your last breath. But things were not clear-cut like that."
"Just because you think it’s safe here, it doesn’t mean this is the right place for you."
"The truth was, it took years to learn how to be married."
"She felt protective towards her aunt, despite – or because of – her frailties."
"Human memory resembles a late-night reveller who has had a few too many drinks: hard as it tries, it just cannot follow a straight line."
"The end of childhood comes not when a child’s body changes with puberty, but when her mind is finally able to see her life through the eyes of an outsider."
"Everything was the same. And nothing would be from now on."
"Experience had taught Leila that if a man did not make up his mind in the first three minutes, he would never do so."
"Bitter Ma did not approve of her girls appearing too eager. She said it cheapened the merchandise."
"Leila’s room was on the second floor, the first on the right. ‘The best location in the house,’ everyone said."
"Leila regarded her memory as a graveyard; segments of her life were buried there, lying in separate graves, and she had no intention of reviving them."
"In the local hammam that the prostitutes visited once a week, she washed and scrubbed herself until her body burned red."
"‘It could be sicologik ,' said Bitter Ma. ‘I’ve seen it before. Look, I run a clean place here.'"
"The stench from the toilets, the mouse droppings in the kitchen, the cockroaches in the basement, the sores in the mouth of a client, the warts on the hands of one of the other prostitutes, the food stains on the madam’s blouse, the flies buzzing hither and thither – everything made her itch uncontrollably."
"It was a privileged room in many ways, one that revealed Leila’s status."
"She never talked about those days, just as she never talked about why she had run away from home."
"The workers were supervised by a bearded foreman who seldom spoke and never smiled."
"In a world they could neither fully understand nor prevail in, music was the only joy that was free of charge."
"Moments of innocence were hidden in its darkest corners, moments so elusive that by the time she realized how pure they were, they would be gone."
"‘Well, true … but I don’t like mine. For now you can call me Hiç – "Nothing".'"
"You are a little clam, aren’t you? Good girl."
"I wanted to make sure everyone was okay. Let’s not talk, though. We don’t want to wake them up."
"‘Everyone needs a doctor.’ With her chin she pointed towards the stethoscope while her eyes followed the baby and her voice trickled with honey."
"She is the manager of our football team and the queen of my heart."
"If you don’t believe me, take me to a doctor."
"This is a family problem and we’ll find a solution together as a family."
"Why don’t you ever believe me – your own daughter?"
"We are not a normal family … Why are you always pretending?"
"I don’t think so. I think you are trying to save Uncle."
"You don’t even know anybody there. Stay in Van."
"Istanbul is massive. You don’t even know anybody there."
"How do you manage to see with the eyes of Allah? I’ve always wondered."
"I’m just surprised that you haven’t noticed it yet."
"You are a proletarian too, a member of the working class, don’t forget."
"Like all the unclaimed dead, she, too, would be consigned to the Cemetery of the Companionless."
"It wasn't wise to hunt for more friends, lest in doing so you jeopardize those you counted on."
"You hurl [depression] away, it comes back and hits you with equal force."
"Grief is a swallow. One day you wake up and you think it's gone, but it's only migrated to some other place."
"Just as a stone dropped into a pond sends ripples out in concentric circles, the cessation of life generated a series of changes."
"Istanbul was an illusion. A magician’s trick gone wrong."
"If your blood family happened to be nice and caring, you could count your lucky stars; if not, there was still hope."
"He had worked with cadavers for so long, preferring their silent company to the endless chatter of the living."
"The more bodies he inspected, the more intrigued he was by the process of death."
"Even as he posed the question the vendor sensed he would not get an answer."
"The boy had become the breadwinner in his family ever since his father, a construction worker, had plunged to his death."
"The family had sued the construction company but nothing was likely to come of it."
"The man had been given no proper training, no safety equipment."
"As areas in Istanbul saw rapid gentrification, the demand for luxury apartments soared."
"The vendor sighed, 'Useless lad,' loud enough for his apprentice to hear."
"Ignoring the remark, the boy placed the meatballs on the grill and started to prepare the order."
"How many times do I need to tell you to oil the grill first?"
"The vendor, his voice oozing politeness, said, ‘Good evening, sirs.’"
"We had an accident the other night. I bumped my nose, it bled like hell."
"Excellent! Make us happy and you’ll be sure to see us again."
"‘Any time,’ said the vendor, pressing his lips into a thin line."
"Then give it to them. I don’t care about your stupid köfte. I hate the smell anyhow."
"‘Those two men ...’ the boy murmured, a cold and imposing form under the darkening sky."
"The secretary, behind a glass partition, craned her head to glance at him every now and then."
"Because I know this woman. She’s the woman you sent me. And she’s dead. Murdered."
"My customers are decent people. Respectable and decent."
"This city has changed so much. It’s so filthy now."
"‘What’s wrong with you?’ snapped the vendor. ‘Don’t you know there are hundreds out there who’d die to have your job?’"
"Like so many timid people, he secretly believed there was, and always had been, a hero within him, itching to come out and show the whole world who he really was."
"It’s amazing how you could become an entirely new person – only there wasn’t much to be done about the size or shape of your hands."
"Democracy, human rights, freedom of speech – what was the point, if we were all about to die anyhow?"
"Why insist on designing the future or remembering the past when we were all slipping and sliding our way to the final exit?"
"One lost one’s appetite for innovation when constantly reminded that the Grim Reaper was just round the corner, his scythe shining red in the setting sun."
"The pessimists were the first to flee the area, probably; the optimists would have chosen to wait and see how things would turn out."
"Istanbul was a liquid city. Nothing was permanent here. Nothing felt settled."
"It still had not solidified, this motherland of theirs. When she closed her eyes, Nalan could hear the water roiling under their feet."