Iranian Quotes

“A unified Iran is constituted not only politically but also affectively. Liberty and constitutional rule bring "Affection among us." The affective sentiment- that of bonding among differing brothers-produces political bonds of national unity and was associatively linked with other desires. Perhaps foremost was the desire to care for and defend the mother, in particular her bodily integrity. The same words were commonly used to discuss territory and the female body. Laura Mulvey calls these words keys "that could turn either way between the psychoanalytic and the social" (1980, 180). They are not "just words" that open up to either domain; they mediate between these domains, taking power of desire from one to the other. More appropriately, they should be considered cultural nodes of psyhosocial condensation. Tajavuz, literally meaning transgression, expresses both rape and the invasion of territory. Another effective expression, as already noted, was Khak-i pak-i vatan, the pure soil of the homeland. The word used for "pure," pak, is saturated with connotations of sexual purity. Linked to the idea of the purity of a female vatan was the metaphoric notion of the "skirt of chastity" (daman-i 'iffat) and its purity-whether it was stained or not. It was the duty of Iranian men to protect that skirt. The weak and sometimes dying figure of motherland pleaded t her dishonorable sons to arise and cut the hands of foreigners from her skirt. Expressing hope for the success of the new constitutional regime by recalling and wishing away the horrors of previous years, an article in Sur-o Israfil addressed Iran in the following terms: "O Iran! O our Mother! You who have given us milk from the blood of your veins for many long years, and who have fed us with the tissues of your own body! Will we ever live to see your unworthy children entrust your skirt of chastity to the hands of foreigners? Will our eyes ever see foreigners tear away the veil of your chastity?”
― Afsaneh Najmabadi, Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity

“Interpreting dreams for Iranians was just as much a sacrament as reading coffee cups was for Turks”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams

“There's something that happens to the newly displaced. Whatever power or choice that was stripped away in the process of reluctantly leaving one's homeland is fervently reclaimed in other situations, and honing in on the best spot to sit and enjoy a meal, be it at a restaurant or a lakeside, takes on the utmost importance. . . . If nothing else, we were always prepared for any and all circumstances and with plenty of provisions to see us through.”
― Naz Deravian, Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories

“شغل زن ها در ایران دو چیز است - یکی آن که خیال خود را به لباس خود صرف می نمایند و دیگر آن که دید و بازدید می کنند.”
― Henri Moser, سفرنامه ترکستان و ایران

“Then with his first step he goes to (the hell of) evil thoughts, with his second to (the hell of) evil words, and with his third to (the hell of) evil deeds.”
― Mircea Eliade, Death, Afterlife, and Eschatology: A Thematic Source Book of the History of Religions

“Iranians love nothing more than an excuse to gather outdoors, preferably next to a body of water, be it a fountain, river, lake, or sea, with plenty of food, drink, and slices of kookoo--Iranian-style frittatas--nestled in warm pieces of bread.”
― Naz Deravian, Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories

“You do know that I have an Iranian passport and from the looks of things, we aren’t welcome in a lot of places in the world.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“He got to Tajrish Square. He had given instructions to Tara to be right next to the jigar forooshi, a liver and kidney store, a delicacy Iranians have been delighting in for centuries. The real Liver King resides in Iran. Not on TikTok. The authentic liver kings and queens have known about the health benefits of eating raw organs for thousands of years.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Amoo meaning uncle, a colloquial abbreviation of “bro” for Farsi speakers.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Capitalism, a deep-rooted belief in religion, and engrained superstition: that is the Persian mindset’s holy trinity today.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“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

“It started with a nose job, a staple in one out of every five Iranians, when she was in her mid-twenties. Then it was Botox. Then a face-lift. Now she's one strike away from being a bona fide palang, the name Iranians give to women who've had more touch-ups than a brush on a canvas. The word means "leopard" and Sahar believes the more operations she has, the higher the chance of her finding a husband.”
― 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

“The honey appears on an oval tin tray, craggy blocks of honeycomb oozing their sticky cargo onto the tray. We scoop the honey up with forks (I looked in vain for a spoon), trying hard not to drip on the tired pink carpet that covers the floor of the tent. The honey is not as sweet as that at home, more liquid, and its fragrance is both floral and resinous.
Perched in the tent on a mountain, surrounded by tall pines, the scent of woodsmoke and the sound of the distant water rushing over rocks like the laughter of happy children, this could well be the breakfast of dreams.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts