10 extraordinary phrases by Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk’s phrases are those types of sentences that leave an echo and are remembered long after reading them for the first time. This Turkish writer, Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 2006, has surprised everyone with his unique way of understanding the world.

Although this wonderful novelist began studying architecture, he finally abandoned them and dedicated himself completely to literature. In fact, he had to face opposition from his family, who saw no future in that profession. Her character strong and independent is reflected in many of his phrases.

Pamuk says that the novel is a way of understanding life. His work The astrologer and the sultan It was praised throughout the planet for the sincerity and depth of its content. Although the ideal is to read the complete texts, in several sentences by Orhan Pamuk it is possible to glimpse the genius and vitality of his work. These are some of them.

Love, a theme in Orhan Pamuk’s phrases

As is often the case with great writers, Love is one of the recurring themes in Orhan Pamuk’s phrases and, of course, in all his work. He has a very moving, yet realistic view of that feeling. An excerpt from one of his novels reads as follows: “Love is the longing to hug a person tightly and be in the same place as them. The desire to hug her, leaving the entire world outside. The nostalgia of the soul to find a safe haven”.

Despite a certain skepticism that permeates much of his writings, Pamuk is also a writer who believes in love. That he believes in the brilliance of his redemption. He makes it clear in the following fragment: “Then we would go to a cafe to read the book again and we would talk about it non-stop, non-stop for hours. That was love and sometimes I thought that, like in the movies love was the only way to bring a distant universe to ours”.

time and moments

One of Orhan Pamuk’s phrases goes like this: “Clocks and calendars They are manufactured to regulate our relationships with others; actually, to regulate the entire society, and that is how they are used”. It means that the measurement of time is a human construction and that in the action of sharing moments and making them measurable there is a backdrop: the desire for control. Regulating time is regulating life, but those measurements are above the subject. They are an imposition of power.

Time can be measured, regulated, imposed, but it still has an aura of mystery. No matter how controlled everything is, time is always a background uncertainty. This can be seen in another of Orhan Pamuk’s phrases: “In reality, no one knows that they are living the happiest moment of their life while they are living it.”. The meaning of each moment is given afterwards, not when it is being lived.

The happiness

Regarding the concept of happiness, this Turkish writer is not exactly gullible. What it says about this is, more or less, that it is a construction of fiction or a reality that is accessed when consciousness is absent. That is what one of Orhan Pamuk’s phrases reveals: “Some time later, either happiness vulgarizes the poet and poetry, or authentic poetry makes happiness impossible.”.

Something similar is captured in one of the fragments of his work. He says like this: “Every intelligent person knows that life is beautiful and that its goal is for us to be happy, my father commented going to the three beauties . But then only fools are happy. How to explain it to him?”With that text, It confirms the idea that happiness is an imaginary construction and that it is only accessed when intelligence is not present.

The world and its injustices

In one of his novels, Orhan Pamuk writes this beautiful text: “Children were the first victims of the immorality that came with the collapse of great civilizations and the collapse of memories.”. In these statements associates the lack of morals with the absence of memory. The corrosion of civilization with the same immorality. And it points out that those who awaken the world are the main depositaries of that decadence.

In the face of injustice, Pamuk points out: “In every part of the world there are injustices and bad people! The important thing is to be able to live in a way that protects the natural goodness of man”. In his view, The way of life is what allows us to protect the good feelings, which are natural in human beings. The task would be to not allow ourselves to move away from our true nature.

There is still hope

Despite his realism, sometimes gray and with a tinge of disillusionment, Pamuk has in his collection many reflections that aim to highlight the most beautiful things in life. One of his novels includes, for example, this phrase: “Once you feel confidence like that inside you, you do the first thing that comes to mind and what your heart tells you and everything turns out well.”. It speaks to that kind of self-belief that when it emerges, makes anything possible.

Another of his phrases is simple and forceful. She says: “One day I read a book and my whole life changed”. It is very significant that you say it. Also It is hopeful that it gives literature that role that it has always had, but that at times is lost: teaching us how to live.

In this brief selection of phrases by Orhan Pamuk you can glimpse the greatness of his work. This has been translated into more than 20 languages ​​and although it often deals with local issues, it has acquired universal stature.

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