top of page
.png){kind=small}
Quotes by Iranian Authors
"Lisbon, to me, is the Lisbon of Pessoa. Just like London is Woolf's, or rather, Mrs. Dalloway's. Barcelona is GaudA's and Rome is da Vinci's. You see them in every crevice and hear their echoes in every cathedral. I'd like to be the child, or rather, the mother of a city but I neither have a home nor a resting place. My race is humankind. My religion is kindness. My work is love and, well, my city is the walls of your heart."
"Because even if you spend your life chasing the immaterial, listening to the most exquisite classical music and getting drunk off of stunning vistas of mountains and waterfalls, all of it isn't worth a dime if you aren't sharing it with someone. Everything amounts to that. True, we must experience most things in solitude to grow, create, destroy and grow again, but our pleasure and joy reaches a threshold in isolation. It is the worst thing to become an island. One must become the whole world."
"We have no problems with Jews and highly respect Judaism as a holy religion."
"Let me tell you quite bluntly that this king business has given me personally nothing but headaches."
"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."
"Do not avert your eyes.It is important that you see this.It is important that you feelthis."
"Don't worry if you don't accomplish everything in this life. Fortunately, death overcomes every thing-even the very thing that tried to kill us."
"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."
"The best tourist is one without a camera."
"Love, they said, burns youand builds you.But with you, there's no ash.Just light."
"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."
"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."
"Embrace contradictions for they make upall of life:You will eternally be looking for yourself andseeking ways to lose yourself."
"And then one day you realise that if you want to be rich, you'd have to give away almost everything you own."
"You want to become a better person?Just give thanks. Give thanks for all of it."
"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."
"And they said if we help with the crisis, they would do a lot of positive acts. After we helped in those crises, they showed negative acts and the Japanese and Turks were ashamed."
"Like the cotton-carder who combs tangled cotton into a long bundle of fibre, you take all my knotted fragments and comb them into light."
"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."
"Art doesn't give rise to anything in us that isn't already there. It simply stirs our curious consciousness and sparks a fire that illuminates who we have always wanted to be."
"No American soldier should be allowed to set foot on Iranian soil, regardless of the criticism we have of the Iranian government."
"You have to be transparent so you no longer cast a shadow but instead let the light pass through you."
"The greatest thing about me isn't even a part of me. It's you."
"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."
"The real war is not between the West and the East. The real war is between intelligent and stupid people."
"We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget, midway, that these concepts are our own constructs and start equating them with reality."
"I don't know why everyoneis still trying to find out whether heaven and hell exist.Why do we need more evidence?They exist here on this very Earth.Heaven is standing atop Mount Qasiounoverlooking the Damascene sightswith the wind carrying Qabbani'sdulcet words all around you.And hell is only four hours away in Aleppo where children's cries drown out the explosions of mortar bombsuntil they lose their voice,their families, and their limbs.Yes, hell certainly does existright now, at this moment,as I pen this poem. And all we're doingto extinguish this hellfireis sighing, shrugging, liking, and sharing.Tell me: what exactly does that makeus? Are we any better than the gatekeepers of hell?"
"Beauty is the manifestation of love."
"We live only for the hope of love."
"The greatest moments in our lives occur when we surrender: birth, love, and death."
"For me,you are fresh waterthat falls from treeswhen it has stopped raining. For me, you are cinnamon that lingers on the tongue and givesbitter wordssweetening.For me, you are the scent of violins and visionof valleys smiling.And still,for me, your loveliness never ends.It traverses the worldand finds its way back to me.Only me."
"What can I tell you about the alchemy of twins?Twins are two bodies that dance to each other's joy.Two minds that drownin each other's despair.Two spirits that flywith each other's love.Twins are two separate beingsconjoined at the heart!"
bottom of page