It takes courage to die for a cause, but also to live for one.
Reality has become so intolerable, she said, so bleak, that all I can paint now are the colors of my dreams.
If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive, to protect some aspect of myself that was now in constant retreat.
Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels-the biggest sin is to be blind to others problems and pains. Not seeing them means denying their existence.
Do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we search for in fiction is not so much reality but the epiphany of truth.
I eat my heart out alone.
Visa for Avalon is a testament to the power of fiction. It illuminates the truth at the heart of what is commonly called reality. This account of lives transformed and ruined by the triumph of a totalitarian rule is a timely reminder of how moral and intellectual laziness and apathy can pave the road to the reign of terror brought on by such a system.
Once evil is individualized, becoming part of everyday life, the way of resisting it also becomes individual. How does the soul survive? is the essential question. And the response is: through love and imagination.
It is amazing how, when all possibilities seem to be taken away from you, the minutest opening can become a great freedom.
When I was teaching at the University of Tehran we were struggling against the implementation of the revolution rules.
What we search for in fiction is not so much reality, but the epiphany of truth.
Khatami is a symptom and not the cause of change in Iran.
