Quotes from The Black Book

“[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“When you look into the faces of these quiet creatures who don't know how to tell stories--who are mute, who can't make themselves heard, who fade into the woodwork, who only think of the perfect answer after the fact, after they're back at home, who can never think of a story that anyone else will find interesting--is there not more depth and more meaning in them? You can see every letter of every untold story swimming on their faces, and all the signs of silence, dejection, and even defeat. You can even imagine your own face in those faces, can't you?”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“أعتقد أن حياتي تقليد لحياة أصلية يجب أن تكون عليها ، وهي ككل تقليد .. مؤلمة ومسكينة يجب أن تخجل منها !”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“We live but for a short time, we see but very little, and we know almost nothing; so, at least, let's do some dreaming. Have yourself a very good Sunday, my dear readers.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Hiçbir zaman inandıramadım seni kahramansız bir dünyaya neden inandığıma. Hiçbir zaman inandıramadım seni o kahramanları uyduran zavallı yazarların neden kahraman olmadıklarına. Hiçbir zaman inandıramadım seni o dergilerde resimleri çıkanların bizden başka bir soydan olduğuna. Hiçbir zaman inandıramadım seni sıradan bir hayata razı olman gerektiğine. Hiçbir zaman inandıramadım seni, o sıradan hayatta benim de bir yerim olması gerektiğine.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“صرّح صاحب دكان يحب الكلام الوجيز بأن الزبائن في الحقيقة لا يشترون الألبسة، بل يشترون خيالاً.
ما أرادوا شراءه في الحقيقة هو أن يكونوا مثل "الآخرين" الذين يرتدون تلك الألبسة.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“...at the end of the day there was nothing to be gained by reminding people that everything that had ever been written, even the greatest and most authoritative texts in the world, were about dreams, not real life, dreams conjured up by words.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“¡Ninguna vida se parece a otra!... Cada historia es una historia precisamente porque no existe otra igual.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“To be left with only the trace of a memory is to gaze at an armchair that's still molded to the form of a love who has left never to return: It is to grieve, dear reader, it is to weep.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“‏إذا بدأت حديقة الذاكرة بالجفاف فإن الإنسان يرتجف شفقةً على آخر أشجارها وورودها.ويسقيها من الصباح حتى المساء ويداعبها لكي لاتجف ولاتضيع: أتذكر.. أتذكر كي لاينسى.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Okuduğun kitaptaki becerikli ve kederli kahraman bendim; mermer taşlar, iri sütunlar ve karanlık kayalar arasından rehberimle birlikte yeraltındaki kıpır kıpır hayatın mahkumlarına koşan ve yıldızlarla kaplı yedi kat göğün merdivenlerinden çıkan yolcu bendim; uçurumu aşan köprünün öteki ucundaki sevgilisine, "Ben senim!" diye seslenen ve yazarı onu kayırdığı için sigara küllüğündeki zehir izlerini çözen kül yutmaz dedektif bendim... Sen sabırsız, sessizce sayfayı çevirirdin. Aşk için cinayetler işledim, atımla Fırat Nehrini geçtim, piramitlere gömüldüm, kardinalleri öldürdüm: "Canım, ne anlatıyor o kitap öyle?" Sen evli barklı ev kadını, ben akşam o eve dönmüş kocaydım: "Hiç." En son otobüs, en boş otobüs bütün boşluğuyla evin önünden geçerken koltuklarımız karşılıklı titrerdi. Sen elinde kapağı kartondan kitap, ben elimde okuyamadığım gazete, sorardım: "Kahramanı ben olsam beni sever miydin?" "Saçmalama!" Gecenin acımasız sessizliği diye yazardı okuduğun kitaplar, sessizliğin acımasızlığı nedir bilirdim.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“They, like me, like all of us, had, once upon a time, in a past so far away it seemed like heaven, caught by chance a glimpse of an inner essence, only to forget what it was. It was this lost memory that pained us, reduced us to ruins, though still we struggled to be ourselves.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“¿Por qué nos inquieta un hombre bañado en lágrimas? Una mujer que llora puede considerarse una parte excepcional pero conmovedora y digna de pena, de nuestra vida cotidiana, la acogemos con sinceridad y cariño. Pero ante un hombre que llora nos llena un sentimiento de desesperación. Es como si para él hubiera llegado el fin del mundo o como si él hubiera llegado al límite de lo que podía hacer.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“De hecho, ¿qué es leer sino dibujar en el silencioso cinematógrafo de nuestra mente una de las cosas que el escritor nos describe con letras?”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“You'll forget it all: the cruel power of your superiors, the thoughtless things you wish you'd never said, the stupidities, the unfinished work, the lack of consideration, the betrayals, the injustices, the indifference, those who've blamed you, those who will blame you, your financial troubles, the rush of time, the endless waits, the things and people forever beyond your reach, your loneliness, your shame, your defeats, your wretchedness, your pain, and the catastrophes - all those catastrophes - in just a few minutes you'll forget them all. The prospect comforts you. Patiently you wait.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“What makes the marvellous is its peculiar way of being ordinary; what makes the ordinary is its peculiar way of being marvellous.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Lee poco pero con gusto, parecerás más leído que el que lo hace mucho pero aburrido. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“كانت الحياة مليئه بالهموم والآلام, وحين ينتهي هم يأتي واحد جديد, وعندنا يُعتاد الجديد يضغط الأجد. الآلام العميقة ما تجعل وجوهنا متشابهه. لو أتت تلك الآلام فجأه لعرفنا أنها على الطريق منذ زمن. وحضرنا أنفسنا لها, ولكن على الرغم من هذا يحل الهم علينا مثل الكابوس وحينئذ يسيطر علينا نوع من الوحده, وحده يائسه لايستغنى عنها, ونسعد عندما نعتقد أن هنالك من يقاسمنا هذه الهموم”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Porque nada puede ser tan sorprendente como la vida. Excepto la escritura. Excepto la escritura. Si, por supuesto, excepto la escritura, el único consuelo”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Creíamos saber mucho, pero no sabíamos nada. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Qué extraños lectores son ustedes, qué extraño país es este.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“How different from the cosy world of Rüya's detective novels, where authors never vexed a hero with more signs than he needed.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“...a nation could change its way of life, its history, its technology, its art, literature, and culture, but it would never have a real chance to change its gestures.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“I must be myself, I said over and over. I must forget these people buzzing inside my head, I must forget their voices, their smells, their demands, their love, their hate, and be myself, I must be myself, I told myself, as i gazed down at the legs resting so happily on the stool, and I told myself again as I looked up to watch the smoke I'd blown up to the ceiling; I must be myself, because if I failed to be myself, I become the person they wanted me to be; if I had to be that insufferable person, I'd rather be nothing at all. It would be better if I didn't exist,...”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“... el asesinato es algo que, con todos sus detalles y ritos, se aprende de otros, se aprende de las leyendas, de los cuentos, de las memorias, de los periódicos, en suma, de la literatura.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Near Taksim he suddenly found himself inside a crowd of people leaving a movie theater. They were staring straight ahead, as if in a trance, walking down the stairs arm in arm or with their hands plunged in their pockets, and Galip was so overwhelmed by what he read in their faces and that his own nightmare faded into the background. What he read in their faces was peace: these people had been able to forget their own sadness by immersing themselves in a story. They were here, on this wretched street, but at the same time they were there, inside the story to which they'd so eagerly given themselves over. They had gone into theater with minds sucked dry by pain and defeat,but now their minds were full again with rich story that gave meaning to their memories and their melancholy. They can believe they're someone else! thought Galip longingly. For a moment he was tempted to go in to watch the film they'd just seen,to lose himself in the same story and become someone else. As they wandered down the street, stopping now and again to gaze into boring shop windows, Galip watched the return to the dull and dreary world they knew so well.
They don't make much effort! Thought Galip.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Bueno, nos hemos bajado del caballo y nos montamos en el burro. ¡Que sea para bien!”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“After all, nothing can be as astounding as life. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the sole consolation.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“Mi ignorancia hacía mi victoria aún más insoportable, pero mi modestia y mi vergüenza aliviaban mis culpas. ”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

“...no creo que podamos vivir sin imitar a otros, sin querer ser otros.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from The Black Book

About the author

Popular quotes

“People who were perfectly sane on Tuesday sometimes go nuts on Wednesday.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Prodigal Son

“Madness will push you anywhere it wants. It never tells you where you're going, or why. It tells you it doesn't matter. It persuades you. It dangles something sparkly before you, shimmering like that water patch on the road up ahead. You will drive until you find it, the treasure, the thing you most desire.
You will never find it. Madness may mock you so long you will die of the search. Or it will tire of you, turn its back, oblivious as you go flying. The car is beside you, smoking, belly-up, still spinning its wheels.”
― Marya Hornbacher, quote from Madness: A Bipolar Life

“I think that you are an uptight, pony-owning, trickle-down-economics-loving, Scotch-on-the-rocks-drinking, my-wife-better-take-my-last-name sexist jerk!”
― Julie James, quote from Practice Makes Perfect

“Theophilus Hopkins was a moderately famous man. You can look him up in the 1860 Britannica. There are three full columns about his corals and his corallines, his anemones and starfish. It does not have anything very useful about the man. It does not tell you what he was like. You can read it three times over and never guess that he had any particular attitude to Christmas pudding.”
― Peter Carey, quote from Oscar and Lucinda

“If you know anything of science, madame, you must know that water is but ice given energy.”
― Gene Wolfe, quote from The Urth of the New Sun

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.