“incapacity for true dialogue implies an incapacity for tolerance, self-reflection and empathy.” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels-the biggest sin is to be blind to others problems… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Other people's sorrows and joys have a way of reminding us of our own; we partly empathize with them because we ask… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The crisis besetting America is not just an economic or political crisis; something deeper is wreaking havoc across the land, a mercenary… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A novel is not an allegory… It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“It wasn't courage that motivated this casual, impersonal manner of treating so much pain; it was a special brand of cowardice, a… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory, I said as the period was about to come to an end. It is the sensual… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
I believe that it is only through empathy, that the pain experienced by an Algerian woman, a North Korean dissident, a Rwandan… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“It is not accidental that the most unsympathetic characters in Austen's novels are those who are incapable of genuine dialogue with others.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
I believe in empathy. I believe in the kind of empathy that is created through imagination and through intimate, personal relationships. I… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory...it is a sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Only curiosity about the fate of others, the ability to put ourselves in their shoes, and the will to enter their world… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“It wasn't courage that motivated this casual, impersonal manner of treating so much pain; it was a special brand of cowardice...forcing others… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory...it is a sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“I have a recurring fantasy that one more article has been added to the Bill of Rights: the right to free access to imagination.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“Hope for some means its loss for others; when the hopeless regain some hope, those in power--the ones who had taken it away--become afraid,… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
Imagine you are walking down a leafy path…The sun is receding, and you are walking alone, caressed by the breezy light of the late… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive, to protect… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“Such an act [testifying for an accused prison guard of the Shah's regime] can only be accomplished by someone who is engrossed in literature,… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all. It was… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“you cannot just be stubborn against something, you need to be stubborn for something as well” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
Do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
Visa for Avalon is a testament to the power of fiction. It illuminates the truth at the heart of what is commonly called reality.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“You ask me what it means to be irrelevant? The feeling is akin to visiting your old house as a wandering ghost with unfinished… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“I explained that most great works of the imagination were meant to make you feel like a stranger in your own home. The best… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
“We envy people like you, and we want to be you; we can't, so we destroy you.” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share
