The dearer a book was to my heart, the more battered and bruised it became. — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Is it possible to write a reverent novel," said Nassrin, "and to have it be good?...” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive,… — 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
I finally returned to Iran in 1979, when I got my degree in English and American literature, and stayed for 18 years… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“The class went all right, and the ones after became easier. I was enthusiastic, naive and idealistic, and I was in love… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The best work of literature to represent the American Dream is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It shows us how… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A novel is not moral in the usual sense of the word. It can be called moral when it shakes us out… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“And even with the book closed, the voices do not stop--there are echoes and reverberations that seem to leap off the pages… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A bad author can take the most moral issue and make you want to just never, ever think about that moral issue. — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Do we consider that anything goes, that we have no responsibility towards others but only for satisfying our needs? Well, that is… — azar nafisi Copy Share Image
“In class, we were discussing the concept of the villain in the novel. I had mentioned that Humbert was a villain because… — 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
“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
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides… — 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
“Razieh had an amazing capacity for beauty. She said, You know, all my life I have lived in poverty. I had to… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Why is it that in novels with a message, the villains are so reduced that it is as if they come to… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Such an act [testifying for an accused prison guard of the Shah's regime] can only be accomplished by someone who is engrossed… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Poor reading, like poor writing, is imposing what you already know on texts. You should go into reading to discover, not to… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Curiously, the novels we escaped into led us finally to question and prod our own realities, about which we felt so helplessly… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The novels were an escape from reality in the sense that we could marvel at their beauty and perfection. Curiously, the novels… — 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
We do not read in order to turn great works of fiction into simplistic replicas of our own realities, we read for… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“I told them this novel was an American classic, in many ways the quintessential American novel. There were other contenders: The Adventures… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
People would react to books by authors like James and Austen almost on a gut level. I think it was not so… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“...but I spoke passionately at the rallies; inspired by phrases I had read in novels and poems, I would weave words together… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such… — 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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“you cannot just be stubborn against something, you need to be stubborn for something as well” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
![“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, has learned that every individual has different dimensions to his personality… Those who judge must take all aspects of an individual's personality into…” quote by Azar Nafisi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e57/azar-nafisi-2001_books_such-an-act-testifying-for-an-accused-pr_74846.jpg)
