"When I decided to write a novel about Istanbul, I thought I should put the different faces of Istanbul into one book. I also put the characters in a cell, and it's three stories underground, rather than on the surface. The characters have one Istanbul, the other one is above ground. One is in dark, one is in light. That kind of contradiction - those opposite sides - creates a great energy in Istanbul."

“she kept sliding down, in small half-willing surrenders, till she was a heap, with the book held tiringly above her face.”

Source : Alan Hollinghurst (2011). “The Stranger's Child”, p.6, Pan Macmillan

“The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.”

“I think, in terms of the media, journalists need to do a much better job of asking people they interview about conflicts of interest and then reporting them.”

Source : "The Food Industry's Influence In Nutrition Research". "Weekend Edition Saturday" with Scott Simon, www.npr.org. September 17, 2016.

“A few minutes?" Feeling suddenly shy, she crossed her arms over her chest. The smile on his face widened, becoming touched with the feral wildness of the cat. It made thinking difficult. "I believed males needed a longer recovery time to mate." "Not this kitty cat." Rising to his feet, he said, "Get ready to play.”

“I suspect any worries about genetic engineering may be unnecessary. Genetic mutations have always happened naturally, anyway.”

“The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.”

“There is always a half-malicious curiosity amongst actors to witness the shortcomings of a novice. They invariably experience strong inclinations to prophesy failure.”

Source : Anna Cora Mowatt, Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie (1854). “Autobiography of an Actress: Or, Eight Years on the Stage”, p.220

“I took lots of photographs and had planned to write a treatise on how it worked, but I quickly got bored with that idea and wrote a scientific fairy tale instead.”