Iran

🇮🇷Zoroaster

Literature

-627–-550

"A reflective, contented mind is the best possession."

🇮🇷Ali Larijani

Military

1958–2026

"Article 11 of the NPT states that if we are threatened, we can act in secret."

🇮🇷Ali Khamenei

Politics

destruction of Israel in Iranian policy

1939–2026

"It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region."

🇮🇷Hassan Rouhani

Politics

b. 1948

"After all, in our region there's been a wound for years on the body of the Muslim world under the shadow of the occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the beloved al-Quds ."

🇮🇷Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

1919–1980

"Who on earth do the Americans suppose their allies are amongst the Arab world? Even Saudi Arabia they seem to regard as nothing more than a resevoir of oil and money."

🇮🇷Ruhollah Khomeini

Politics

1902–1989

"In the Islamic government all people have complete freedom to have any kind of opinion."

🇮🇷Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel

Politics

b. 1945

"Iranian Official: "No Place in Israel Will Be Safe"

🇮🇷Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Politics

b. 1956

"My former health minister, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, is like a peach. I love to eat him."

🇮🇷Ali Sistani

Religion

b. 1930

"People are not finding potable water and you're bringing me juice? No."

🇮🇷Morteza Motahhari

Philosophy

1919–1979

"Sexual Ethics in Islam and in the Western World, or"

🇮🇷Najmuddin Kubra

Philosophy

1145–1221

"The heart possesses subtle organs of perception, which are progressively purifies by the performance of dhikr, together with other spiritual discipline and exercises."

🇮🇷Ashraf Dehghani

Social Activism

b. 1949

"The thought that I had been captured so soon, without having done anything for the revolution, made me feel ashamed. I thought: at least now, I must carry out my duty well under torture."

🇮🇷Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Literature

Sufism

1207–1273

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."

🇮🇷Elia M. Ramollah

"Write and bulletin your thoughts on paper so it would be like bulletins in your brain too."

🇮🇷Amir Taheri

Journalism

b. 1942

"Poetry interprets the chaos of human life and tries to bestow meaning on it. Without imagination there could be no poetry; and imagination chained by ideology produces only propaganda."

🇮🇷Ali Meshkini

Politics

1922–2007

"You should make the world understand that Israel is the oppressor and that Israel must be destroyed."

🇮🇷Narges Mohammadi

Politics

b. 1972

"Killing, imprisoning or denying the rights of a human being is not injustice against one person; it enchains and kills a whole society."

🇮🇷Ali Shariati

Social Activism

1933–1977

"Books and Transcription of Lectures by Dr. Ali Shariati at shariati.com"

🇮🇷Abbas Kiarostami

Entertainment

1940–2016

"I feel like a tree. A tree doesn't feel a duty to start doing something about the earth from which it comes. A tree just has to bear fruit, and leaves and blossoms. It doesn't feel grateful to the earth."

🇮🇷Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani

963–1033

"Whosoever by God's grace sees Him sees not creatures. He who attains to the vision of the Lord is lost to himself."

🇮🇷Guity Novin

Art

b. 1944

"Poetical spaces too can be painted like a vase."

🇮🇷Massoud Rajavi

Politics

1948–2003

"If Iran stands, the world will stand with us and by our side."

🇮🇷Ashraf Pahlavi

Politics

1919–2016

"I don't need to pray. I have God in myself."

🇮🇷Shappi Khorsandi

Entertainment

b. 1973

"I'm actually going on holiday to India next month, and I wanted to know what the weather was gonna be like there, so I phoned my bank."

🇮🇷Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei

Politics

b. 1956

"Iran urged to overturn women's convictions April 27, 2007"

🇮🇷Javad Alizadeh

Philosophy

b. 1953

"The death of our close friends and relatives proves that how close the death is to us!"

🇮🇷Mohammad Emami-Kashani

Politics

1931–2024

"Friday Sermon at Tehran University: America Will Collapse"

🇮🇷Ahmad Shamlou

Literature

1925–2000

"from Ahmad Shamlou's letters to his wife Ayda, the book "like the blood in my veins"

"He was nutty upon martyrdom. In answering to unidentified persons who threatened to kill him, He said:«Martyrdom, is my ultimate goal."

🇮🇷Shah Hamadan Ali Hamadani (R.A.)

Religion

Sufism

1312–1384

"‘a small temple which was demolished... the credit of wiping out the vestiges of infidelity and heresy from the mirror of the conscience of the dwellers of these lands ."

🇮🇷Hossein Shariatmadari

Journalism

b. 1947

"During the entire period of occupation of Afghanistan, we were the country that provided the most support to the Afghans."

🇮🇷Ahmad Khatami

Politics

conservatism

b. 1960

"Instead of negotiating with the Israeli regime, the Arab states should talk to the Palestinian nation so as to garner divine consent and national popularity."

🇮🇷Sadegh Hedayat

Literature

1902–1951

"It should be noted that vegetarianism is still a source of ridicule for those who do not know the truth; How easily we laughed at our ancestors, the day will come when future generations will laugh at our superstitions."

🇮🇷Mohammad Khatami

Politics

b. 1943

"I don't like the death penalty, although if there is one case where there should be an execution, the fairest case would be for Saddam. But I would never wish for that."

🇮🇷Ahmad Jannati

Politics

b. 1927

"Al-Qaeda means Bush and Blair. Who established Al-Qaeda? You are the ones who should be put on trial. You were the mother of Al-Qaeda."

🇮🇷Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Politics

1934–2017

"We want all the Palestinians back in their homeland, and then there can be a fair referendum for people to choose the form of state they want. Whoever gets the majority can rule."

🇮🇷Farah Pahlavi

Literature

b. 1938

"I have always been fascinated with the arts. When I was in Iran in that position I was constantly concerned with promoting our Iranian traditional art but, at the same time, with introducing contemporary and modern art."