Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me. Books saved me. So, I do believe through stories we can learn to change, we can learn to empathize and be more connected with the universe and with humanity.

- Elif Safak

I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities.

- Elif Safak

I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother, a divorcee.

- Elif Safak

For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God.

- Elif Safak

I spent my entire childhood observing people. I still do.

- Elif Safak

God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and gender boundaries.

- Elif Safak

I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food.

- Elif Safak

I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a puppeteer pulling strings. For me, it's a scary, chaotic process over which I have little control. Words demand other words, characters resist me.

- Elif Safak