The west was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution.

If somebody's trying to shut you up, sing louder, and if possible, better.

Someone asked me if I was afraid to write my memoirs. I told him: 'We have to stop drawing up accounts of fear! We live in a society in which people are allowed to tell their story, and that is what I do.'

Liberate yourself, because no one else is going to liberate you

My grandmother was very fierce and gruff. She was quite small, but she was very wide.

She's no flibberti-gibberti mamzell, but a whir-stir-get-lost-sir bundla dynamite!

Fundamentalists believe that we don't believe in anything. In their view of the world, they are in possession of absolute certainties, while we are descending into decadence. We will be able to triumph over terrorism not by waging war on it, but through a conscious, fearless way of life.