“I wanted the moments of my life to follow and order themselves like those of a life remembered. You might as well try and catch time by the tail.”

Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.

Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.

As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.

All men are Prophets or else God does not exist.

To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head.

Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being – like a worm.

I have no religion, but if I were to choose one, it would be that of Shariati’s.

I’d come to realize that all our troubles spring from our failure to use plain, clear-cut language.

What is there to fear in such a regular world?

People who live in society have learnt how to see themselves, in mirrors, as they appear to their friends. I have no friends: is that why my flesh is so naked?

What is important is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us.

Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is.

My eyes feel all soft, all soft as flesh. I’m going to sleep.

I suppose it is out of laziness that the world is the same day after day. Today it seemed to want to change. And then anything, anything could happen.

Everything has been figured out, except how to live.

Better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees.

What you do today can change all the tomorrow’s of your life.

The journey is the thing.

Happiness is not a goal, it’s a by-product of a life well lived.

Art is to console those who are broken by life.

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.

People are afraid of shadows. People are even more afraid of being in the shadow. But without a shadow, life will be two dimensional.

When you acknowledge that there is nothing repulsive or unforgivable or shameful about yourself, it becomes easier to be that authentic person and feel like you’re living a less performed life.

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.