“I found the human heart empty and insipid everywhere except in books.”

We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.

We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.

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

It is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are.

All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books.

Your judgement judges you and defines you.

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.

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.

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?

This time, there have been a lot of interesting discussions about the subject matter, and I’ve had a good time talking about it. And in some of the cases, I’m not just signing books – I’m showing slides and talking about the work

I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.

Take away the cross of Christ, and the Bible is a dark book.

I was quite a weird kid because I didn’t like getting presents. I don’t know why. I just went for books all the time.

Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or friend above the Word of God.

Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will.

You really ought to read more books – you know, those things that look like blocks but come apart on one side.

I suppose books mean more than people to me anyway