Elif Batuman Quotes

You just go around getting hung up on all the least convenient things-and if the only obstacle in your way is a little extra work, then that's the wonderful gift right there.

I didn't care about truth; I cared about beauty. It took me many years-it took the experience of lived time-to realize that they really are the same thing.

I learned many interesting things from Delia: for example, that she and Gulya had both married alcoholics, but Delia's alcoholic had taken all her money, whereas Gulya had managed her alcoholic well and taken all his money.

What does literature do better than anything else? It provides a detailed representation of the inner experience of being alive in a given time and place.

If I could start over today, I would choose literature again. If the answers exist in the world or in the universe, I still think that's where we're going to find them.