But let us not forget that cities are like human beings. They are born, they go through childhood and adolescence, they grow old, and eventually they die
Elif SafakRead
I like to borrow a metaphor from the great poet and mystic Rumi who talks about living like a drawing compass. One leg of the compass is static. It is fixed and rooted in a certain spot. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a huge wide circle around the first one, constantly moving. Just like that, one part of my writing is based in Istanbul. It has strong local roots. Yet at the same time the other part travels the whole wide world, feeling connected to several cities, cultures, and peoples.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the balance between being rooted in one's origins while simultaneously exploring the broader world.
Elif Safak uses the metaphor of a compass to express the duality of existence, where one is grounded in a specific place, akin to the fixed leg of the compass, while the other leg represents the dynamic and expansive nature of creativity and exploration. This duality allows for a rich connection to one's roots while also engaging with diverse cultures and experiences, showing that personal identity can be both stable and fluid.
Themes
CompassRootsExplorationIdentityCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about cultural diversity, one can use this quote to highlight the importance of both local roots and global connections.
More from Elif Safak
All quotes →I like to question cultural biases wherever I go, and I question Islamophobia as much as I question anti-western sentiment because I think all extremist ideologies are very similar.
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Stories cannot demolish frontiers, but they can punch holes in our mental walls, and through those holes we can get a glimpse of the other and sometimes even like what we see.
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What i’m saying is, my friends, one ought to be able to let go. If a path does not please us, instead of insisting on going that specific way, of making our selfishness the guide, we ought to forsake. The books we cannot write, the films we cannot shoot, the projects we cannot develop, the jobs we cannot pursue and the people who no longer love us. Being able to let go, at times, is the most beautiful of all!
Elif SafakRead
For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God.
Elif SafakRead
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 SafakRead
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