The Bastard Of Istanbul Quotes
"Whatever falls from the sky above, thou shall not curse it. That includes the rain."
"Rain is an agony here. In other parts of the world, a downpour will in all likelihood come as a boon for nearly everyone and everything—good for the crops, good for the fauna and the flora, and with an extra splash of romanticism, good for lovers. Not so in Istanbul though."
"But then, as the final drops reach the ground and many more perch unsteadily on the now dustless leaves, at that unprotected moment, when you are not quite sure that it has finally ceased raining, and neither is the rain itself, in that very interstice, everything becomes serene."
"That was the one thing about the rain that likened it to sorrow: You did your best to remain untouched, safe and dry, but if and when you failed, there came a point in which you started seeing the problem less in terms of drops than as an incessant gush, and thereby you decide you might as well get drenched."
"The Golden Rule of Prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: When harassed on the street, never respond, since a woman who responds, let alone swears back at her harasser, shall only fire up the enthusiasm of the latter!"
"The Silver Rule of Prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: When harassed on the street, do not lose nerve, since a woman who loses her nerve in the face of harassment, and thus reacts excessively, will only make matters worse for herself!"
"The Copper Rule of Prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: When harassed on the street, you’d better forget about the incident as soon as you are on your way again, since to recall the incident all day long will only further wrack your nerves!"
"It would have been much better with cinnamon."
"I dropped out when I had a baby last year, but now I’m trying to go back to college."
"There was absolutely no way the doctor could do anything with you screaming at the top of your voice. You did not pass out, woman, no way; first you were blathering, and then you started yelling and cursing."
"Nothing is as important as the well-being of the child." - Grandma Shushan
"Because nothing artificial enters my kitchen." - Shushan Tchakhmakhchian
"We’ve shrunk like a pruned tree." - Shushan Tchakhmakhchian
"Our existence is kitsch, a beautiful lie, which helps us to defy the reality of death and mortality." - Character in Café Kundera
"Imagination was a dangerously captivating magic for those compelled to be realistic in life, and words could be poisonous for those destined always to be silenced." - Armanoush's reflection
"When you didn’t tell anyone the extraordinary, everyone assumed the normal." - Armanoush
"If you read and read and read, where is it going to end?" - Auntie Varsenig
"If you eat bastırma you smell and sweat and breathe bastırma for days on end." - Armanoush
"All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Exceptionally Untalented Poet
"I don’t know much about those things. It’s all history. You should talk with historians." - Mustafa Kazancı
"You should have stayed in bed and read your novels."
"Now let’s see a little feminine glamor. Put on some lipstick, miss!"
"I hope you like Asian fusion with a touch of Caribbean influence."
"I’ve never been able to become an Armenian in the first place."
"But something was terribly missing, not in the sense of a detail missing from the whole, but in the sense of the whole dissolving into pieces without that missing part."
"The Janissary’s Paradox is being torn between two clashing states of existence."
"For me to be able to become an Armenian American the way you guys are, I need to find my Armenianness first."
"Pistachios…yes, you smell just like pistachios."
"Every day we swallow yet another capsule of mendacity."
"It sucks, these managers and organizers, whatever they are called, they organize European tours or Asian tours... but if you are a music fan in Istanbul you do not fit into any geographical definition."
"If only I could be left on my own so that I could destroy myself faster and earlier…"
"But it is there. You have a bottomless potential for demolition."
"Home is where your wife of so many years is, whereas this place is your secret cathouse where you can imbibe and get laid without your wife knowing a thing."
"It’s a big country, you know. Depending on where you live, there are different Americas."
"They were two hundred and thirty-four people total."
"Every day, two or three of them would be taken by the soldiers outside the town for a walk and then the soldiers would come back alone."
"The ones in the first group were in worse condition than the second. Nobody survived in Ayash."
"Allah is most great, Allah is most great."
"All we Armenians ask for is the recognition of our loss and pain, which is the most fundamental requirement for genuine human relationships to flourish."
"Aren't we just swallowing what's given to us? Capsules of information, capsules of misinformation."
"You can’t feel attached to ancestors if you can’t even trace your own father."
"I think it’s better to have the knowledge of past events than not to know anything at all."
"My grandmother’s father, Hovhannes Stamboulian, was a poet and a writer. He was an eminent man, who was profoundly respected in the community."
"Unlike many other people in Turkey, I have done a lot of research on this issue due to my job."
"Even one is too many," Asya snapped back.
"You know about the infamous Salem witch trials, don’t you? The interesting thing is that almost all the women accused of witchcraft had made similar confessions."
"There is such a thing as collective hysteria. It is a scientifically known fact that collectivities are capable of manipulating their individual members’ beliefs, thoughts, and even bodily reactions."
"Let me tell you what hysteria is. All those scripts you’ve penned thus far, the whole series of Timur the Lionheart—that’s what I call hysteria."
"It’s like being under a spell," remarked the Exceptionally Untalented Poet.
"You write those screenplays for the masses. You write and sell and earn huge amounts of money. And then you come here, take cover in this intellectual café, and join us to mock those movies. Hypocrisy!"
"If there is an eye in the seventh sky, a Celestial Gaze watching each and every one from way up high, He would have had to keep Istanbul under surveillance for quite some time to get a sense of who did what behind closed doors."
"I don’t want to see this anymore. I learned what I had wanted to learn.…"
"Your state can apologize," answered Miserable-Co
"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."
"Each time [Rose] had scolded her for not calling more often."
"Oh my God, we've got fifteen minutes. What are we gonna tell her?"
"You ask her nicely, she'll tell you nicely."
"She is an intelligent, dependable girl, you know that."
"This is exactly how Mom would react if something bad happened to my father…or to dad’s family."
"I lied to almost everyone in my family to be able to take this trip."
"Each one of us is existentially lonely and that sooner or later the everlasting solitude will overtake any fortuitous friendships."
"I trust Armanoush with all my heart. She won't do anything wrong."
"Too many times Zeliha had the same dream. She saw herself walking on the street under a rain of stones."
"Maternal compassion, filial love, familial camaraderie, she sure needed none of that."
"Article Twelve: Do not try to change your mother, or more precisely, do not try to change your relationship with your mother, since this will only cause frustration. Simply accept and consent."
"Besides, even if she were late, what difference would it make to anyone?"
"‘Don’t you worry, little bird,’ the pomegranate tree smiled and shook the snow on her branches. ‘The story that I’m going to tell you is a happy one.’"
"The world had been a gloomy place since he had started writing it and now he had to finish without ado, as if its becoming a less heartrending place depended on this."
"‘All right, then,’ the Little Lost Pigeon chirped. ‘Tell me the story of the Little Lost Pigeon. But I warn you, if I hear anything sad, I will take wing and fly away.’"
"Potassium cyanide is a colorless compound, the salt of potassium and hydrogen cyanide. It looks like sugar and is highly soluble in water. Unlike some other toxic compounds it has a noticeable smell. It smells like almonds. Bitter almonds."
"Life is coincidence, though sometimes it takes a djinni to fathom that."