Reza Quotes

#1. Iran's most formidable modern leader, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was obsessed with the idea of building a steel mill, but in 1941, soon after he assembled all the components, Allied armies invaded Iran, and the project had to be abandoned.

Stephen Kinzer

#2. I learned I have a great deal to learn." Reza

Renee Ahdieh

#3. I've been so lucky to work with some great, great writers: Tony Kushner and Yasmina Reza.

Marcia Gay Harden

#4. Reza implemented an impressive number of reforms that were designed to turn the cracked empire he had inherited into a purposeful nation state. But he ended up, like so many of his fellow dictators, alone in his citadel. And much of the goods he did was nullified by the way he did it.

Christopher De Bellaigue

#5. Reza, in spite of the tears caught in his lashes like raindrops on a spider's web, did not cry.

Claire Messud

#6. The elimination of force at all costs is Utopian and the new movement which has arisen in the country and of whose dawn we have given a warning is inspired by the ideals which Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha and Reza Khan, Washington and Garibaldi, Lafayette and Lenin preached.

Bhagat Singh

#7. Henry Kissinger is possessed of a truly superior intelligence, in addition to which he has two qualities which, unfortunately, many great men lack: he is able to listen and he has a very subtle sense of humour.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#8. Paul's lack of concern with the historical Jesus is not due, as some have argued, to his emphasis on Christological rather than historical concerns. It is due to the simple fact that Paul had no idea who the living Jesus was, nor did he care.

Reza Aslan

#9. One would think that Jesus's admonishment not to teach others to break the Law of Moses would have had some impact on Paul. But Paul seems totally unconcerned with anything "Jesus-in-the-flesh" may or may not have said.

Reza Aslan

#10. Europeans should be patient and try to find a formula to resolve this nuclear issue. We are determined to remove any ambiguities over our nuclear ambitions and also protect our right.

Hamid-Reza Assefi

#11. Women always think you need a man, you need a father, as if they'd be the slightest use. Men are a dead weight, they're clumsy and maladjusted.

Yasmina Reza

#12. There is absolutely no difference between religion and politics at all in Jesus' time. In other words, every seemingly religious word that came out of Jesus' mouth had very clear and unmistakable political connotations to it.

Reza Aslan

#13. The more I started studying the historical Jesus, the man who lived 2,000 years ago ... the more I started to realize that there was this chasm between the historical Jesus and the Jesus that I had been taught about in church.

Reza Aslan

#14. Even the Quran, which Sufis respect as the direct speech of God, lacks the capacity to shed light upon God's essence. As one Sufi master has argued, why spend time reading a love letter (by which he means the Quran) in the presence of the Beloved who wrote it?

Reza Aslan

#15. Ezekiel declared, in the center of all nations

Reza Aslan

#16. there's a very well-known method for getting women, everybody knows it, it's not to say a word.

Yasmina Reza

#17. To begin with, with the possible exception of the gospel of Luke, none of the gospels we have were written by the person after whom they are named.

Reza Aslan

#18. In the Ummah, there was no tradition of veiling until around 627 C.E., when the so-called "verse of hijab" suddenly descended upon the community. That verse, however, was addressed not to women in general, but exclusively to Muhammad's wives:

Reza Aslan

#19. There's no question that homophobia is rampant among the world's 1.5 billion Muslims - but that doesn't negate the fact that there are huge groups of Muslims who have easily reconciled their faith and sexual orientation, like LGBT people in other faith communities.

Reza Aslan

#20. The separation of "church and state" of which America is so proud was established in Islam fourteen centuries ago, when it was decided that no Caliph would have religious authority over the community.

Reza Aslan

#21. Herod was convert,after all. His mother was Arab. His people, the Idumeans, had come to Judaism only a generation or two earlier.

Reza Aslan

#22. A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on Earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens.

Reza Aslan

#23. The readers of Luke's gospel, like most people in the ancient world, did not make a sharp distinction between myth and reality; the two were intimately tied together in their spiritual experience. That is to say, they were less interested in what actually happened than in what it meant.

Reza Aslan

#24. The only question that matters with regard to a religion and its mythology is What do these stories mean?

Reza Aslan

#25. Despite two millennia of Christian apologetics, the fact is that belief in a dying and rising messiah simply did not exist in Judaism.

Reza Aslan

#26. Muhammad may have been, there is one detail that should not be lost in the tumult and confusion

Reza Aslan

#27. Thus, the Quran promises that all those who believe - the Jews, the Sabians, the Christians - anyone who believes in God and the Last Days, and who does good deeds, will have nothing to fear

Reza Aslan

#28. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but the sword. MATTHEW 10:34

Reza Aslan

#29. My advisers built a wall between myself and my people. I didn't realize what was happening. When I woke up, I had lost my people.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#30. Over the last few years, the Islamic world has produced more female presidents and prime ministers than both Europe and North America combined.

Reza Aslan

#31. There is only one thing I can say about the Shah- he knows how to draw a crowd.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#32. Yvan's a very tolerant bloke, which of course, when it comes to relationships, is the worst thing you can be.
Yvan's very tolerant because he couldn't care less.

Yasmina Reza

#33. All these schools of though gradually transformed into legal institutions, the diversity of ideas and freedom of opinion that characterized their early development gave way to rigid formalism, strict adherence to precedent, and an almost complete stultification of independent though

Reza Aslan

#34. There's only one reason to be crucified under the Roman Empire, and that is for treason or sedition. Crucifixion, we have to understand, was not actually a form of capital punishment for Rome. In fact, it was often the case that the criminal would be killed first and then crucified.

Reza Aslan

#35. The only way to survive in a community where movement was the norm and material accumulation impractical was to maintain a strong sense on tribal solidarity by evenly sharing all available resources.

Reza Aslan

#36. Rhodes, founder of the De Beers diamond company and at one time the virtual dictator of modern-day South Africa, famously declared, "We Britons are the first race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race." Among

Reza Aslan

#37. No- one is ever told any story but their own.

Reza Aslan

#38. Now that Iran has entered into production of nuclear fuel on an industrial, there will be no limit on the production of nuclear fuel in Iran.

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh

#39. Montanist Christians like Tertullian believed that Jesus possessed the same divine quality as God, but not in the same quantity as God.

Reza Aslan

#40. He had been summoned to appear before a meeting of the Apostolic Council to defend his self-designated role as missionary to the gentiles (Paul insists he was not summoned to Jerusalem but went of his own accord because Jesus told him to).

Reza Aslan

#41. A crown, a throne could not be based on the not too very solid foundation of blood.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#42. Islam is more than a religion, it's much more than a religion, it's a way of life, it is a one party political system that has a very elaborate legal system that can put you to death if you leave it.

Reza Aslan

#43. I think by all accounts in the same way we look back on the anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish sentiments of our history with shame and derision and with a healthy dose of mockery, that's how we will very likely look back on this sort of anti-Muslim sentiment as well in the next generation.

Reza Aslan

#44. In the history of the prophetic biblical canon that starts with Genesis, the Koran is by far the most tolerant of the views of other religions.

Reza Aslan

#45. [ ... ] there can be no a priori moral framework in a modern democracy [ ... ]

Reza Aslan

#46. To put it succinctly: description without prescription is the germ of resignation, and prescription without description is mere whim.

Reza Negarestani

#47. Be thankful and grateful daily. Gratitude for what you have is a great way to get more of it.

Reza Nazari

#48. Jesus was crucified by Rome because his messianic aspirations threatened the occupation of Palestine, and his zealotry endangered the Temple authorities.

Reza Aslan

#49. There is no evidence that Jesus himself openly advocated violent actions. But he was certainly no pacifist. "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but the sword" (Matthew 10:34 | Luke 12:51).

Reza Aslan

#50. If a certain country conducts uranium-related activities in a certain plant, the bombing of that plant is forbidden. If such a disaster occurs, America would not be able to show its face for all eternity.

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh

#51. I believe in God, which means I am open to some absurd possibilities. But I understand the power of that faith, and I understand the metaphor of that belief.

Reza Aslan

#52. O Cyrus , great King, King of Kings, Achaemenian King, King of the land of Iran. I, the Shahanshah of Iran, offer thee salutations from myself and from my nation. Rest in peace, for we are awake, and we will always stay awake.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#53. The Revolutionary Guard controls almost everything in Iran, and this is hurting the people.

Reza Aslan

#54. Few Iranians these days go through the fiction of calling themselves 'Persian.' Calling yourself Persian is a way of distancing themselves from Iran.

Reza Aslan

#55. No one speaks for God - not even the prophets (who speak about God).

Reza Aslan

#56. One-fifth of Americans, 20% believe that Barak Obama is, himself, a Muslim and in fact - amongst Republicans that number is almost 40%. Polls show in this country, that the more you disagree with Barak Obama's domestic policies, the more likely you are to think that he is a Muslim.

Reza Aslan

#57. Nixon is a strong leader with a good grasp of the world's problems. He knows that the only way to argue with the communists is from a position of strength.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#58. The great Christian theologian Rudolf Bultmann liked to say that the quest for the historical Jesus is ultimately an internal quest. Scholars tend to see the Jesus they want to see. Too often they see themselves - their own reflection - in the image of Jesus they have constructed.

Reza Aslan

#59. Whether you're talking about MSNBC or Fox or CNN, it's all about getting enough interest out there, sensationalizing the story in such a way that people are compelled to tune in.

Reza Aslan

#60. When you forcefully suppress religious nationalism, you radicalize it.

Reza Aslan

#61. What's happened recently in Pakistan, India and Kuwait only goes to show that it's futile to imitate Western democracy. They've ended up exactly where they started.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#62. I have watched Muslims chant 'Death to America!' on the streets of Tehran, then privately beg me to help them get a visa to the United States.

Reza Aslan

#63. I really believe that to have a full impression of Jesus, both as Christ as a man, you must know about the world that gave shape to him - the world out of which he arose.

Reza Aslan

#64. Nobody can influence me, nobody. Still less a woman. Women are important in a man's life only if they're beautiful and charming and keep their femininity.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#65. Should I act violently in defense of my religion, absolutely.

Reza Aslan

#66. It is no exaggeration to say that Syria holds the key for nearly all of America's foreign policy goals in the Middle East. As Syria goes, so goes the region.

Reza Aslan

#67. The bad news is that Iran wants to talk about everything except their nuclear program. They want to talk about regional cooperation, they want to talk about the sanctions issues, and it seems like the western powers want to talk about nothing more than the nuclear issue.

Reza Aslan

#68. Sacred history is like a hallowed tree whose roots dig deep into primordial time and whose branches weave in and out of genuine history with little concern for the boundaries of space and time. Indeed, it is precisely at those moments when sacred and genuine history collide that religions are born.

Reza Aslan

#69. The first-century Jews who wrote about Jesus had already made up their minds about who he was. They were constructing a theological argument about the nature and function of Jesus as Christ, not composing a historical biography about a human being.

Reza Aslan

#70. Considering how effortlessly religious dogma has become intertwined with political ideology, how can we overcome the clash-of-monotheisms mentality that has so deeply entrenched itself in the modern world? Clearly, education and tolerance are essential.

Reza Aslan

#71. There's nothing more distasteful than an academic having to, like, trot out his credentials. You really come off as a jerk when you do that.

Reza Aslan

#72. To be first in the Middle East is not enough. We must raise ourselves to the level of a great world power.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#73. Thus, a story concocted by Mark strictly for evangelistic purposes to shift the blame for Jesus's death away from Rome is stretched with the passage of time to the point of absurdity, becoming in the process the basis for two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism.

Reza Aslan

#74. Those who did know Jesus - those who followed him into Jerusalem as its king and helped him cleanse the Temple in God's name, who were there when he was arrested and who watched him die a lonely death - played a surprisingly small role in defining the movement Jesus left behing.

Reza Aslan

#75. By the time these stories were written, six decades had passed since the crucifixion. In that time, the evangelists had heard just about every conceivable objection to the resurrection, and they were able to create narratives to counter each and every one of them.

Reza Aslan

#76. I want the standard of living in Iran in ten years' time to be exactly on a level with that in Europe today. In twenty years' time we shall be ahead of the United States.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#77. You can be a follower of Jesus and not necessarily be a Christian.

Reza Aslan

#78. We will discuss the issue and the rumors surrounding it with the agency. It is not very sensitive or ambiguous.

Hamid-Reza Assefi

#79. This criticism is ridiculous. The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebration cost me less than the inauguration of each new president of the United States.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#80. I personally object to the veil on aesthetic as well as other grounds; but I must admit that, for instance in the suburbs of American cities, I have often seen women attired more sloppily than our Persian women normally are.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#81. The reason crucifixion was so common is because it was so cheap. It could be carried out almost anywhere; all one needed was a tree. The torture could last for days without the need for an actual torturer.

Reza Aslan

#82. The idea that education will lead to a lessening of bigotry is just factually incorrect.

Reza Aslan

#83. the famed French theorist Ernest Renan, who years ago defined the nation as "a group of people united in a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbors.

Reza Aslan

#84. We will immediately lift the suspension of uranium enrichment and will halt implementation of the Additional Protocol.

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh

#85. Let me tell you quite bluntly that this king business has given me personally nothing but headaches.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#86. Both gospels employ the term "Son of God" exactly as it is used throughout the Hebrew Scriptures: as a royal title, not a description.

Reza Aslan

#87. Religion is never going to go away, and anyone who thinks it will doesn't understand what religion is. It is a language to describe the experience of human nature, so for as long as people struggle to describe what it means to be alive, it will be a ready-made language to express those feelings.

Reza Aslan

#88. [ ... ] pluralism implies religious tolerance, not unchecked religious freedom.

Reza Aslan

#89. Time changes everything, including the soul of a face.

Yasmina Reza

#90. He [the King of Morocco] spends half his time asleep and the rest of it buried between the legs of the fairer sex.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#91. I calculated the amount of time I spent with my father during my entire life ... the total amount of time I had with him, if you add up the hours, was about two months. My father was a busy man ... we had very few opportunities to really sit down and talk as father and son.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#92. So then, give back to Caesar what is his, and give back to God what belongs to God. That is the zealot argument in its simplest, most concise form. And it seems to be enough for the authorities in Jerusalem to immediately label Jesus as lestes. A bandit. A zealot.

Reza Aslan

#93. The New Testament is not a historical document.

Reza Aslan

#94. They want liberalization! I'll give them liberalization. I'll loosen the screws until the Americans beg me to tighten them again.

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

#95. Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh would be resurrected, but they did not accept the resurrection of the mases

Reza Aslan

#96. Whether for good or for bad, the Iran that ultimately rises out of the ashes of last summer's uprising will be unlike the Iran we know today, and for that we can thank the Green Movement, not another round of useless sanctions.

Reza Aslan

#97. Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. Religion is the story of faith.

Reza Aslan

#98. Literature offers not just a window into the culture of diverse regions, but also the society, the politics; it's the only place where we can keep track of ideas.

Reza Aslan

#99. Certainly the shahadah contained an important theological innovation, but that innovation was not monotheism. With this simple profession of faith, Muhammad was declaring to Mecca that the God of the heavens and the earth required no intermediate whatsoever, but could be accessed by anyone.

Reza Aslan

#100. My biography of Jesus is probably the first popular biography that does not use the New Testament as its primary source material.

Reza Aslan