It's Such A Shame That We Know

I Sometimes Joke That I Am The First Writer Of Historical Fiction Who Can Look Out His Window And Point To The Objects In His Novels. I Have A View Of The Entrance To The Bosporus, The Old City, Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque.

There Are Two Kind Of Men,' Said Ka, In A Didatic Voice. 'the First Kind Does Not Fall In Love Until He's Seen How The Girls Eats A Sandwich, How She Combs Her Hair, What Sort Of Nonsense She Cares About, Why She's Angry At Her Father, And What Sort Of Stories People Tell About Her. The Second Type Of Man -- And I Am In This Category -- Can Fall In Love With A Woman Only If He Knows Next To Nothing About Her.

Love Is A Sacred Silence.

Most Of The Time It's Not The Europeans Who Belittle Us. What Happens When We Look At Them Is That We Belittle Ourselves. When We Undertake The Pilgrimage, It's Not Just To Escape The Tyranny At Home But Also To Reach To The Depths Of Our Souls. The Day Arrives When The Guilty Must Return To Save Those Who Could Not Find The Courage To Leave.

To Savour Istanbul's Back Streets, To Appreciate The Vines And Trees That Endow Its Ruins With Accidental Grace, You Must, First And Foremost, Be A Stranger To Them.