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Quotes by Iranian Authors

"A spark of every fire we seek is already within us."

"It's so easy to lose faith and become lost in all of the politics of the world. That's why we need the arts. To sublimate our frustration and anger into something beautiful. Freud called sublimation a virtuous defence mechanism because it is in the arts that we can find our humanity."

"Come to me.Why must you ruin this moment?You are burdened with thought.Burdened with the pastand expectations of the future.You are burdened with your self.Cast these aside by laughing at yourself.And love,for what more is there than to love me?Take me nowand let it be heaven for us."

"Sometimes a writer simply finds new ways of saying what has already been said because, ultimately, truth is unoriginal."

"Violinists wear the imprint on their necks with prideFor they are the players of harmony.Pilgrims, too, wear the imprint on their foreheads with prideFor they are the conductors of unity.And Lovers? Why, they are made humble by the imprint on their heartsFor they are merely the instruments of rhapsody."

"Listen.Do you see that you can't hear snowfall?Look.Do you sensethat you can't see love?Touch.Do you graspthat you can't catch poems?Try.Smell this glass. Go on taste this cloud.These material senses won't get you far untilyou feelthe velvet glove caress your soul."

"She placed her hand on her chest and thought, 'So this is what the poets write about'."

"I began to write because of love. I wrote to understand what I felt and what I knew."


"Alice would choose to love herself, different and extraordinary, every day of the week."

"Eyes and ears are two.Lungs and kidneys, too.I wonder thenwhy we're born with oneheart that skips a beat when hay is here,and beats quickly when you are near.One heart that cracks when you are far, lie to me and leave a scar.I wonder thenwhy we're born with oneheart that gets broken.Was I supposed to find you then?So your heart would make one plus one is twofor me andtwo for you."

"With you, I am. Without you, I am not."

"For how can any human be separate from humanity and humanness?"

"Poetry is jealous of you tonight, for as soon as I come to pen a few words, your perfume attacks me in the most civilised manner and I forget myself. I forget the poem. I forget the ..."

"How freeing of a thought: instead of worrying about leaving a legacy, to leave no trace of one's existence. How liberating indeed!"

"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."

"We seek the fire of the spark that is already within us."

"All this waiting.Waiting for the rain to stop. Waiting in traffic. Waiting for the bill. Waiting at the airport for an old friend.Waiting to depart. Then, there's the big waiting: waiting to grow up. Waiting for love. Waiting to show youryour parents that when you have kids you'll be different. Waiting to retire. Waiting for death. Why do we think waitingis the antithesis of lifewhen it is almostall of it?"

"Beauty is the manifestation of love."

"I fell in loveand then I became love."

"Wake up. If your eyes are sleeping then wipe them gently. You need to be awake for this. It is a matter of life and death. Wake up! If your mind is sleeping then shake it quickly. You need to be awake for this. It is a matter of life and death. Wake up, I said! If your heart is sleeping then beat your chest! You need to be awake for life! You need to be awake for love! It is a matter of living and being alive."

"Your attention is so sacred that if you truly look for beauty and grace, you will find it in everything."

"I became an artist because I wanted to be an active participant in the conversation about art."

"The first time I heard you laugh, I only wanted to say funny things so you would always be laughing. You know what happens to chocolate when you leave it out in the sun? I'm that unfortunate chocolate and you, you are the laughing sun. For this reason, I am offering myself to you not as a martyr or some selfless fool, but as a self-indulgent moth who actively pursues the light without much fear for the flame. The moth who revels in the heat and declares: Burn me."

"They tell us the only way to move on is to forget."Forgive, they say.Realise that you deserve better.That maybe they deserve better.You can't fight fire with fire.Extinguish it once and for all."Do not look back," they say.They don't tell you that only one thing is needed. Only one:love.When you are filled to the brim with love,you only emanate love.You become lover and love itself.Only then will you love even the very people you wish to hate."

"Love is the only reason that is reason enough."

"Mist to mist, drops to drops. For water thou art, and unto water shalt thou return."

"May we always be burdened with thinking of the suffering of others, for that is what it means to be human."

"Don't make the mistake of looking down on your partner. You're only on that pedestal because they put you up there."

"It is your ego that needs to explain itself. The self just is."

"The more we surrender to what cannot be, the better we control what can be."

"Can we share my eyes so you can see what I see?Can we share my ears so you can hear what I hear?Can you perch on my shouldersso you can go where I go?Always in my heart, I don't experience anything separate from you.This shared wonderment becomes doubled.This shared love becomes infinite."


"I'm not sure. But there's something about the darkness, the stillness of this hour, I think, that creates a language of its own. There's a strange kind of freedom in the dark; a terrifying vulnerability we allow ourselves at exactly the wrong moment, tricked by the darkness into thinking it will keep our secrets. We forget that the blackness is not a blanket; we forget that the sun will soon rise. But in the moment, at least, we feel brave enough to say things we'd never say in the light."

"Extremities are flawed. Moderation is ideal, save for one occasion.So damn these eyes that weep too much.This mind that thinks too much. But never this heart that loves too much."

"Die every night so in the morning you are reborn."

"O woman, father says natural is beautifulso why do you redden your cheeks and blacken your eyes?Why do you remove the hair on your legsand draw them into your brows?Why do you hold your breathlest your stomach showand hold your fartlest they knowthat you're a human? O woman, father says natural is beautifulso why do you straighten your hairto curl it nextand pretend to orgasm so they think you enjoyed the sex?Why do you dumb yourself downand push your breasts up?Why do you smile when you're told toand love when you don't want to?When? When will you stop, woman? Father says natural is beautifulbut that is doubtfulfor what does father knowhe's only a fellow."
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