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Quotes by Iranian Authors
"Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves."
"Goodwill can be indicated in various ways. I raised that particular example because at that time I was in charge. Today, I'm not in a position to present other possibilities."
"This poem was meant to be unwritten. But I am writing it now and have thereby changed destiny."
"Embrace contradictions for they make upall of life:You will eternally be looking for yourself andseeking ways to lose yourself."
"People don't remember lessons. They remember stories."
"People first concern themselves with meeting their basic needs; only afterwards, do they pursue any higher needs."
"We do not trust the goodwill of the U.S. They have cut the ties."
"I believe the main solution is to gain the trust of Europe and America and to remove their concerns over the peaceful nature of our nuclear industry and to assure them that there will never be a diversion to military use."
"Human rights is a universal standard. It is a component of every religion and every civilization."
"Each department and institution has its own authorities and responsibilities, and they act on that basis. It is wrong to even compare such actions to what is done in Guantanamo or elsewhere by the Americans. They do not stand on a high moral platform to preach to others."
"In Afghanistan, this is the problem, because everybody holds a piece of that mirror, and they all look at it and claim that they hold the entire truth."
"Believe me when I say: 'Out of all those around, she's the best locksmith in town.' Her stethoscope ears know when the dials of your heart click into place.She's been cutting keys for years.You don't stand a chance with that flimsy case.Alas, no matter how you lock your heart- bolt, fixture, and key- she's got nimble fingersthat pick locks for free.Padlocks and deadboltsare all in vain.Why do you even botherwith that chain?She's way too smart. Along with ours, she'll have your heart. And you will see that the best locksmith in town is she."
"I couldn't have dreamed you into existence because I didn't even know I needed you. You must have been sent to me."
"Why this candle?Why this cake?The day of my birth is not today.I was born when you said, 'Hey."
"We did not treat the Americans badly. They left Iran in a relaxed mood. The embassy was active here after the revolution. We didn't have any problem with them. They started it."
"Global equations undergo changes, this is their nature."
"The winner of the elections which saw the participation of almsot 30 million people was the Iranian nation and the losers were those who tried to keep people away from the polls."
"As a result of the awareness and consciousness of decline, an awareness and consciousness of a national ethnicity or an Islamic identity also came into being."
"I remember our childhood dayswhen life was easyand math problems hard.Mom would help us with our homeworkand dad was not at home but at work.After our chores, we'd go to the old fort museum with clips in our hair and pure joy in our hearts.You, sister, wore the bangles thatyou, brother, got as a prize from the Dentist."Why the bangles? the Dentist asked, surprised, for boys picked the stickers of cars instead."They're for my sisters, you said.Mom would treat us to a bottle of Coke,a few sips each. Then,we'd buy the sweet smelling bread from the same white vanand hand-in-hand,we'd walk to our small flat above the restaurant.I remember our childhood days.Do you remember them too?"
"An act of violence, no matter how small, can never be justified if it can be avoided."
"I lived in a really dark place. I wasn't safe in my own mind. I woke up every morning hoping to die and then spent the rest of the day wondering if maybe I was already dead because I couldn't even tell the difference."
"When al-Qaeda was on the run from Afghanistan crossing through Iran, some were arrested and they are imprisoned. Some of them are charged with some actions in Iran."
"We are all born as storytellers. Our inner voice tells the first story we ever hear."
"Establishing an equilibrium between the Islam of truth and Islam as an identity is one of the most difficult tasks of religious intellectuals."
"I'm not an idiot, Kenji. I have reasons for the things I say."Yeah, and maybe I'm just saying that you have no idea what you're saying."Whatever."Don't whatever me-"Whatever, I say again."Oh my God, Kenji says to no one in particular. "I think this girl wants to get her ass kicked."You couldn't kick my ass if I had ten of them.Kenji laughs out loud. "Is that a challenge?"It's a warning, I say to him."Ohhhhhh, so you're threatening me now? Little crybaby knows how to make threats now?"Shut up, Kenji."Shut up, Kenji, he repeats in a whiny voice, mocking me."
"I'm beginning to think of hope as a dangerous, terrifying thing."
"We exist only to exist."
"Let me tell you quite bluntly that this king business has given me personally nothing but headaches."
"And I gave this directive to them, that if they free our assets in the United States, that would be a sign of goodwill. I have the same idea this time."
"The greatest moments in our lives occur when we surrender: birth, love, and death."
"I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction."
"Nothing belongs to itself anymore. These trees are yours because you once looked at them. These streets are yours because you once traversed them. These coffee shops and bookshops, these cafA©s and bars, their sole owner is you. They gave themselves so willingly, surrendering to your perfume. You sang with the birds and they stopped to listen to you. You smiled at the sheepish stars and they fell into your hair. The sun and moon, the sea and mountain, they have all left from heartbreak. Nothing belongs to itself anymore. You once spoke to Him, and then God became yours. He sits with us in darkness now to plot how to make you ours. K.K."
"We don't have a major problem right now in our country, and life is normal. Things like unemployment, which the youth are suffering from, and the rate of inflation - these are chronic conditions and we have to solve them."
"A problem was the lack of cooperation of the Afghan community itself. The women, though living in Iran, were under cover and not willing to participate in the film, and none of the ethnic groups were willing to work together or be together."
"Uh, yeah - how about a warm hell no to that request? Does that work for you? Because it works for me."
"The United States' administrations... must recognize that Iran is a big power. Having said that, we consider ourselves to be a human force and a cultural power and hence a friend of other nations. We have never sought to dominate others or to violate the rights of any other country."
"I do know that I don't want to wake him.We were up very late last night."
"The question in their minds was, why did the outside world, and particularly the Western world, produce all these landmines, and send them to Afghanistan? This business must be stopped. It's a dirty business to produce such a horrible device."
"There is no doubt that America is a superpower of the world and we cannot ignore them."
"My thoughts, I think, will soon be sound.My mind, I hope, will soon be found."
"I think wow, I imagine this is what it's like to have friends."
"I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe."
"That this girl would know exactly how to shatter me."
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