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Elegant is a gilder who, at the time the novel begins, has just been murdered. For 25 years he has worked alongside the three master miniaturists (Olive, Butterfly, and Stork), but they have always remained suspicious of one another. Elegant is more religious than the others, and just before his death he became a follower of a conservative religious leader, the Hoja of Erzurum. At the same time, he is also very greedy; he agreed to do the gilding for Enishte’s book, even though he thought it was blasphemous, because Enishte promised to pay handsomely for it. The search for Elegant’s murderer propels the plot of the book.
Elegant Quotes in My Name is Red
The My Name is Red quotes below are all either spoken by Elegant or refer to Elegant. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
Nevertheless, being a murderer takes some getting used to. I can't stand being at home, so I head out to the street. I can’t stand my street, so I walk on to another, and then another. As I stare at people's faces, I realize that many of them believe they're innocent because they haven't yet had the opportunity to snuff out a life. It's hard to believe that most men are more moral or better than me simply on account of some minor twist of fate. At most, they wear somewhat stupider expressions because they haven't yet killed, and like all fools, they appear to have good intentions.
After I took care of that pathetic man, wandering the streets of Istanbul for four days was enough to confirm that everyone with a gleam of cleverness in his eye and the shadow of his soul cast across his face was a hidden assassin. Only imbeciles are innocent.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire My Name is Red LitChart as a printable PDF.
Elegant Quotes in My Name is Red
The My Name is Red quotes below are all either spoken by Elegant or refer to Elegant. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
Nevertheless, being a murderer takes some getting used to. I can't stand being at home, so I head out to the street. I can’t stand my street, so I walk on to another, and then another. As I stare at people's faces, I realize that many of them believe they're innocent because they haven't yet had the opportunity to snuff out a life. It's hard to believe that most men are more moral or better than me simply on account of some minor twist of fate. At most, they wear somewhat stupider expressions because they haven't yet killed, and like all fools, they appear to have good intentions.
After I took care of that pathetic man, wandering the streets of Istanbul for four days was enough to confirm that everyone with a gleam of cleverness in his eye and the shadow of his soul cast across his face was a hidden assassin. Only imbeciles are innocent.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
