Quotes from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Life is too short to be lived badly.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“You are putting yourself in serious danger...'

I think that I preferred to put myself in serious danger rather than confront my shame. My shame at not having become someone, the shame of not having made my parents proud after all the sacrifices they had made for me. The shame of having become a mediocre nihilist.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Culture and education are the lethal weapons against all kinds of fundamentalism.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“In any case, it's the cowardice of people like you who give dictators the chance to install themselves!”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I was a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn't even know anymore why I was living.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Oh my!! How you've grown. Soon you'll be catching the Lord's balls.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Prosperity consists of two things: tea after a meal, and a cigarette after tea.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Is religion defending our physical integrity or is it just opposed to fashion?”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I'm happy to see you so well-settled here. Now you must make an effort, you must become somebody. I don't care what you do later, only try to be the best. Even if you become a cabaret dance, better that you dance at the lido than in a hole in the wall.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Night fell... "Night brings good counsel", my grandmother always told me.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins, that I was playing a game by somebody else's rules.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I wanted to die. Where were my parents to take me in their arms, to reassure me?”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“What do you want me to say, sir? That I'm the vegetable that I refused to become, that I'm so disappointed in myself that I can no longee look at myself in the mirror? That I hate myself?”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Third: live together as long as you feel truly happy. Life is too short to be lived badly.”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“In retrospect, I can see that I had always known that it wouldn't between us. But after my pitiful love story in Vienna, I needed to believe in someone again...”
― Marjane Satrapi, quote from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

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Popular quotes

“I’m not going to be like my mother. You’re maniacs. You’re mad.

“Yes,” said Kate. “I know it. And so you won’t be. The best of luck to you. And what are you going to be instead?”
― Doris Lessing, quote from The Summer Before the Dark

“Ishmael was looking at him through narrowed eyes. “This is very important to you, this box.”
“It’s important to the world.”

Ishmael said: “The sun rises, and the sun sets. Sometimes it rains. We live, then we die.” He shrugged.

He would never understand, Wolff thought; but others would.”
― Ken Follett, quote from The Key to Rebecca

“Roarke: “Our engines don't run at the same speed.”

Eve: “What the hell does that mean?”

Roarke: “Just that.”

Eve: “It sounds like something that ought to piss me off. But I can't figure out exactly why. When I do, I might have to pop you one.”

Roarke: “I'll look forward to it. If you don't sleep, eat. You need something in your stomach. And what are you grinning at?”

Eve: “You. You're such a wife.”

Roarke: “Now, I'm pissed off.”
― J.D. Robb, quote from Witness in Death

“Le mai le joli mai en barque sur le Rhin
Des dames regardaient du haut de la montagne
Vous êtes si jolies mais la barque s'éloigne
Qui donc a fait pleurer les saules riverains

Or des vergers fleuris se figeaient en arrière
Les pétales tombés des cerisiers de mai
Sont les ongles de celle que j'ai tant aimée
Les pétales flétris sont comme ses paupières

Sur le chemin du bord du fleuve lentement
Un ours un singe un chien menés par des tziganes
Suivaient une roulotte traînée par un âne
Tandis que s'éloignait dans les vignes rhénanes
Sur un fifre lointain un air de régiment

Le mai le joli mai a paré les ruines
De lierre de vigne vierge et de rosiers
Le vent du Rhin secoue sur le bord les osiers
Et les roseaux jaseurs et les fleurs nues des vignes”
― Guillaume Apollinaire, quote from Alcools

“There's no way out," he announced with satisfaction, "and no amount of wishful dreaming will produce one. The demon won't go back in its bottle, the face-off is for ever, the embrace gets tighter and the toys cleverer with every generation, and there's no such thing for either side as enough security. Not for the main players, not for the nasty little newcomers who each year run themselves up a suitcase bomb and join the club. We get tired of believing that, because we're human. We may even con ourselves into believing the threat has gone away. It never will. Never, never, never."

"So, who'll save us then, Walt?" Barley asked. "You and Nedsky?"

"Vanity, if anything will, which I doubt," Walter retorted. "No leader wants to go down in history as the ass who destroyed his country in an afternoon. And funk, I suppose. Most of our gallant politicians do have a narcissistic objection to suicide, thank God.”
― John le Carré, quote from The Russia House

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.