top of page
Quotes by Iranian Authors


"I remember it so well. Dying. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. I couldn't scream because my lungs were torn apart or full of blood. I don't know. I just had to lie there, trying to breathe, hoping to drop dead as quickly as possible. And the whole time, the whole time I kept thinking about how I'd spent my entire life being a coward, and how it got me nowhere. And I knew that if I had the chance to do it all again, I'd do it differently. I promised myself I'd finally stop being afraid."

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


"Juliette." I close my eyes. He says, "I don't want you to call me Warner anymore." I open my eyes. "I want you to know me," he says, breathless, his fingers pushing a stray strand of hair away from my face. "I don't want to be Warner with you," he says. "I want it to be different now. I want you to call me Aaron."

"Some people are in such utter darkness that they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally."

"Why wait to forgive and let go only after you have sufficiently wallowed in your despair? Why not forgive and let go now?"

"Want to help others? Be yourself. You'll inspire others to muster the courage to be themselves as well."

"Do you know what you get when you try to escape? When you drive for miles in a deserted city or swim for hours in a shoreless sea? You get yourself."


"I count everything. Even numbers, odd numbers, multiples of 10. I count the ticks of the clock i count the tocks of the clock I count the lines between the lines on a sheet of paper. I count the broken beats of my heart I count my pulse and my blinks and the number of tries it takes to inhale enough oxygen for my lungs. I stay like this I stand like this I count like this until the feeling stops. Until the tears stop spilling, until my fists stop shaking, until my heart stops aching. There are never enough numbers."

"These poems are cups that I pour my life into. Here, Drink!"

"My hours are filled with fantasy and indifference. In day and night dreams, I think of my heaven with you. All the time in between, I carelessly spend in hell without you."

"The way you dress is how you greet the sun and other stars."

"Speak to me: I will spend my lifetime trying to understand you."

"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."

"Polish the mirror of your heart until it reflects every person's light."

"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."

"Where were you when I undressed and told the tales of my day?Where were youwhenI was silent with God in prandial pray?Where were youwhen I recited love poems as I lay?Where were you?"

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

"Our homes travel with us. They are wherever we feel loved and accepted."


"So I take a deep breath.Step forward.Let go.10 seconds and I'm trying to breathe9And I'm trying to be brave8But the truth is I'm scared out of my mind7And I have no idea what's waiting for me behind that door6And I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a heart attack5But I can't turn back now4Because there it is3The door is right in front of me2All I have to do is knock1Butthe door flies open first."

"I write because the security of your love allows me to develop my craft without concerning myself with trivialities - as if your love could be any more complete. But I write, in the first place,because of you, my muse. I write for your green eyes to glance at my humble words and for the pleasure of hearing you utter them."

"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 ..."

"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?"

"This is a day of celebration!Today, we are divorcing the pastand marrying the present.Dance,and you will find Godin every room.Today, we are divorcing resentmentand marrying forgiveness.Sing,and God will find you in every tune.Today, we are divorcing indifferenceand marrying love.Drink, and play that tambourine against your thighs.We have so much celebrating to do!"

"Enlightenment lacks any form of judgment."

"I have no use for these other loves.Seal them shut in jarsand place them in the pantry. A reserve of love.Thank them for their love.They are so kind.Perhaps store them in the fridgeFor others to take.They say love is a panacea. I know it is not.Flakes of snow,no two are alike.When I am down on my knees, hopeless and angry,for the world no longer makes sense,I won't look in the pantry or fridge.It is your hand pressing on my shoulderthat makes me whole,makes me forget.What trouble? What world?"

"You see herand ascend into love. You become enchanted, a found madman. In your love,you lose yourself and become her. You were once without her, now with her. You still feel her and descend into love. You become enraptured, a lost madman. In your love,you lost yourself and her. You were once with her, nowwithout her."

"All I need to dois place my pen against paperand your lovewrites for me."


"Best to introduce yourself to patience now, so that it might find you when you call upon it later."

"You only feel powerless because your fear has given your power to the object of your fear. Once you realise this, you can claim it back."


"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."

"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 have to get out of this room as soon as possible, or my own thoughts will wage war against me."
bottom of page