emotion is first of all and in principle an accident

Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices.

What then did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those heads that our fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?

Life is nothing until it is lived; but it is yours to make sense of, and the of it is nothing other than the sense you choose.

I have nothing but contempt for you idiotic chosen ones who have the heart to rejoice when there are the damned in Hell and the poor on earth; as for me, I am on the side of men and I will not leave it.

So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: Hell is other people.

I have no religion, but if I were to choose one, it would be that of Shariati's.