Persia Quotes

“My whole being is a dark chant
that will carry you perpetuating you
to the dawn of eternal growths and blossomings
in this chant I sighed you, oh
in this chant,
I grafted you to the tree, to the water, to the fire.”
― Forugh Farrokhzad

“Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops — Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they — Darius!”
― Alexander the Great

“Unhappy Persia, that in former age
Hast been the seat of mighty Conquerors,
That in their prowesse and their policies, Have triumph over Africa.”
― Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine

“I am the sun
I am the sea
I am the one
By infinity

I am the spark
I am the light
I am the dark
And I am the night

I am Iran
I am Xerxes
I am Zal’s son
And I am a beast

I am God’s own
Emissary
Colour my heart
Red, white and green

I am Ferdowsi
I am Hafez
I am Saadi
Rolled all in one breath

Ibn Sina
Omar Khayyam
Look at me now
Bundled in one

I am the present
I am the past
I am the future
My presence will last

I am Ismail
My soul is unleashed
‘Till the day at least
The sun sets in the east”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“For the misfortunes that befall us and the illnesses that harass us make even a short life seem long. And so because life is a hardship, death proves to be a human being's most welcome escape, and the god, who gives us merely a taste of sweetness in life, is revealed to be a jealous deity.”
― Artabanos

“The Caucasus mountain range is probably the most variegated ethnological and linguistic area in the world. It is not a melting pot, as has been said, but a refuge area par excellence where small groups have maintained their identity throughout history. The descendants of the Mediaeval Alans, a Scythic Iranian people, live in the north Caucasus today and are called Ossetes. Iranian cultural influences were strong among the Armenians, Georgians and other peoples of the Caucasus and many times in history large parts of this area were under Persian rule. So it well deserves to be mentioned in a survey of Iran.”
― Richard Nelson Frye, The Heritage of Persia

“Regardless of all the pressures upon them, people are fighting bravely against this suppression. The success of Iranians all across the world is also the happiest thought. What I always say is that goodwill wins over bad.”
― Farah Pahlavi

“I have always been fascinated with the arts. When I was in Iran in that position I was constantly concerned with promoting our Iranian traditional art but, at the same time, with introducing contemporary and modern art.”
― Farah Pahlavi

“You know very well that no one can enter the heart of another and become as one, not even for the shortest moment. Even your mother only made you flesh, and at your first breath you breathed in solitude”
― Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Morte na Pérsia

“The living need the truth, before rumor pollutes it.”
― Mary Renault, Funeral Games

“And Cyrus, they say, observed: 'How much trouble you have at your dinner, grandfather, if you have to reach out your hands to all these dishes and taste all these different kinds of food!'
'Why so?' said Astyages. 'Really now, don't you think this dinner much finer than your Persian dinners?'
'No, grandfather,' Cyrus replied to this; 'but the road to satiety is much more simple and direct in our country than with you; for bread and meat take us there; but you, though you make for the same goal as we, go wandering through many a maze, up and down, and only arrive at last at the point that we long since have reached.”
― Xenophon, Cyropaedia Volume 1, books 1-4

“Only powerful currencies earn the right to have a symbol. Just imagine, one US dollar was worth 64 rials in 1939, right after World War II. And what is it worth today? Around 150,000 rials.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Oh my heart, sing of the gardens which you have never known!
Those which are frozen in glass, clear, unreachable.
Water and roses of Isfahan, or Shiraz,
Give blessed song, give praise equal to none.

Oh my heart, give evidence that they have not spared you,
And that it is you who are intended, and it is for you that they ripen their figs.
That it is you who ply between their blossoming boughs,
Like a face, in the rousing winds.

Avoid the mistake of imagining some deprivation,
For the decision has been taken: to be!
Silk thread, weave your way into the fabric!

Whatever the image with which you have become one
(even if it be but a moment from a life of pain),
Feel that the whole carpet, so worthy of praise, is intended!”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus

“You are Esther now, a Persian star, and you will shine like the dawn in the king's palace.”
― Jill Eileen Smith, Star of Persia:

“A book of verses, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, now that’s divine.
The Rubaiyat, no longer an afterthought, I see the light!”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“Sanctions levied
Sanctions heavy
Break my back
But you will not end me

Many have assailed
Many have failed
Pack after pack
Blood shed but to no avail

Had my share of years
Had my share of tears
SAVAK to crack
A century of polluted atmosphere

This is my land
This is my clan
Turn the clock back
I'm as old as the history of man

Gone are the golden days
Gone are the golden ways
Stopped in my tracks
Time will lead me out of this maze

Keep my people in pain
Keep my people in chains
Wrapped in my flag
The end welcomes tyranny's campaign

Levy your sanctions
Heavy my reaction
From The Burnt City to Ganzak
I, Simurgh, will rise from the ashes

History will go round
History will go down
Evil, domestic and foreign
Will burn to the ground

Time bears witness
Time bears justice
Our mystic misfortune
A lingering dark nimbus

Rise up my wings
Rise up my kings
This majestic sovereign
Will be reborn once again”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“Sanctions levied
Sanctions heavy
Break my back
But you will not end me

Many have assailed

Many have failed
Pack after pack
Blood shed but to no avail

Had my share of years
Had my share of tears
SAVAK to crack
A century of polluted atmosphere

This is my land
This is my clan
Turn the clock back
I'm as old as the history of man

Gone are the golden days
Gone are the golden ways
Stopped in my tracks
Time will lead me out of this maze

Keep my people in pain
Keep my people in chains
Wrapped in my flag
The end welcomes tyranny's campaign

Levy your sanctions
Heavy my reaction
From The Burnt City to Ganzak
I, Simurgh, will rise from the ashes

History will go round
History will go down
Evil, domestic and foreign
Will burn to the ground

Time bears witness
Time bears justice
Our mystic misfortune
A lingering dark nimbus

Rise up my wings
Rise up my kings
This majestic sovereign
Will be reborn once again”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“They ... know from experience better than almost any other nation on earth how transient are material achievements and pomp and glory. ... the New Order pointed to the ruins of Persepolis as reminders of what Iran had once been and must strive to be again. The Iranian people also see in those ruins a monument to the vanity of human success.”
― Peter Avery

“the stupid attitude of the EUropeans out here - to antagonise rather than cooperate with the IRanians. Even among quite intelligent people here, this racial antipathy is to be found - and unless it goes, this company will.”
― L. P. Elwelllsutton

“Good days and bad days go past. What stays is a good name or a bad name.”
― muhammad mossadegh

“And again there was the long road, as straight as an arrow through the shimmering wall of fog, and the sudden apparition of the solitary columns of Persepolis on the terrace that seemed surreally suspended high above the plains”
― Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Morte na Pérsia

“I dreamed of that red star
when I wasn’t asleep”
― Forugh Farrokhzad, Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season

“Parviz continued, “Do you even know why we refer to it as toman?”

“No, never thought about it, why?” Hooman replied with as much spirit as his mask could muster.

“Well, it’s from the Mongolian word tümen, which means ‘unit of ten thousand.’” He gritted his teeth, agitating Hooman more than hearing about his son getting caught and arrested. Money was his only real love. “That terror, Genghis Khan, still lives with us to this day.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“But revenge and honor are as old as the pillars in Persepolis. The father, the brother or some man from her family will come looking for him.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“And this in a nation that had female generals thousands of years ago.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“The eternal fire, the atar, Atash long ago extinguished in the spirit of many. This little flame was a poor imitation of that never-ending flame the Persians have revered for thousands of years.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Right by her, a guy yells out, "Sefr, sado, bisto, yek." The number 0121. It was the PIN to his debit card, which the man behind the counter was charging. A nation cloaked with duality, the same society where theft is considered smart, is the same one that openly shares PINs of their debit cards with one another.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“I will not rest until Iran has a national, democratic and elected government of the people.”
― Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi

“In many languages such as Arabic or French, everything seems to have gender. As the name-givers have sexuality, so does everything they name, be it the sun, the moon, the fatherland, or God. Verbs and pronouns vary by gender, and it’s embarrassing to say them wrong. Some advocates of sexual equality suggest reforming language, so that people can be mentioned without gender-stereotyped labels. But various languages are already like that, and one of them is Persian.”
― Zhinia Noorian, Mother Persia: Women in Iran's History

“The Thousand and One Nights" draws on a sea of pre-existing legends, from lands stretching from Egypt to China. But the name “Shahrazad” is Persian, and as folklorist Maria Tatar explains, the material she conveys “made its way from Persian to Arabic manuscripts in the second half of the eighth century CE.” Reportedly, Shahrazad has a library of a thousand books, knows all their stories, and weaves them together like a classic bard. The tyrant who reportedly commands her love while threatening her life is a typical ancient warlord, who assumes that mercy is weakness. In countering his murderous egotism, she wields the power of myth and the beauty of empathy. Azar Nafisi explains it as a kind art therapy: “the heroine … must rely on ‘woman’s guile’ to survive a madman’s clutches. She turns his nights with her into an unfolding drama, spinning a spell of fantasy that finally restores his sanity.” In her survey of female heroes throughout history, "The Heroine with 1,001 Faces" (2021), Maria Tatar describes this sort of spell-casting as a chief characteristic of women’s art: “it gradually dawned on me that the heroines [of most folk stories] were habitually bent on social missions, trying to rescue, restore, or fix things, with words as their only weapons,” Maybe that is the ultimate function of all these legendary Persian “romances,” and the main goal of women’s popular folklore through the centuries.”
― Zhinia Noorian, Mother Persia: Women in Iran's History