“Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.”

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.

One could only damage oneself through the harm one did to others. One could never get directly at oneself.

You must be like me; you must suffer in rhythm.

People are like dice. We throw ourselves in the direction of our own choosing.

I’ve dropped out of their hearts like a little sparrow fallen from its nest. So gather me up, dear, fold me to your heart – and you’ll see how nice I can be.

There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.

I think; therefore I am.

To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.

All acquired power consists in command over some of the powers of other man.

I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power, that ceases only in death.

The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.

Every part of the universe is ‘body’ and that which is not ‘body’ is no part of the universe, and because the universe is all, that which is no part of it is nothing, and consequently nowhere.

What is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body?

it is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.