Elif Batuman quotes - page 3

My family is not only not religious, but my parents are both - they're secularists. My father is actually an atheist and feels very strongly about it. (Elif Batuman)
When in doubt, it is better to do the less conservative thing and to err on the side of the more colorful, possibly terrible mistake. That comes from thinking of yourself as a writer. View quote
Elif Batuman
Awkwardness is the consciousness of a false position. View quote
Elif Batuman
Awkwardness comes from the realization that, when you look around the world, it's difficult to identify anyone who isn't either the victim or the beneficiary of injustice. View quote
Elif Batuman
I like to think that I know a lot of words, but I definitely don't know all of them. View quote
Elif Batuman
When I read that nobody should ever feel ashamed to be alone or to be in a crowd, I realized that I often felt ashamed of both of those things. View quote
Elif Batuman
There are very few things that I have any patience for that are not at least a little bit humorous. View quote
Elif Batuman
Reading Epictetus, I realized that most of the pain in my life came not from any actual privations or insults but, rather, from the shame of thinking that they could have been avoided. View quote
Elif Batuman
My parents were born into a secular country. They met in Turkey's top medical school, moved to America in the nineteen-seventies, and became researchers and professors. View quote
Elif Batuman
I grew up hearing that if it hadn't been for Ataturk, my grandmother would have been 'a covered person' who would have been reliant on a man for her livelihood. Instead, she went to boarding school, wrote a thesis on Balzac, and became a teacher. View quote
Elif Batuman
Lists are based on realism - on the coldly contemplated finitude of resources. (Elif Batuman)
Anyone who has ever tried to plot a detective mystery knows that the hardest thing to come up with is motive. View quote
Elif Batuman