Abolqasem Ferdowsi · 886 pages
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“But all this world is like a tale we hear -
Men's evil, and their glory, disappear.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“I turn to right and left, in all the earth
I see no signs of justice, sense or worth:
A man does evil deeds, and all his days
Are filled with luck and universal praise;
Another's good in all he does - he dies
A wretched, broken man whom all despise.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“I am deathless, I am the eternal Lord
For I have spread the seed of the Word.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“Our lives pass from us like the wind, and why
Should wise men grieve to know that they must die?
The Judas blossom fades, the lovely face
Of light is dimmed, and darkness takes its place.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“And while one is brought up with luxury and caresses, and is thrown bewildered and despairing into a dark pit, another is lifted from the pit and raised to a throne where a jeweled crown is placed on his head. The world has no shame in doing this; it is prompt to hand out both pleasure and pain and has no need of us an our doings.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“Such is the passing that you must leave,
All men must die, and it is vain to grieve.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“بیا تا جهان را به بد نسپریم
به کوشش همه دست نیکی بریم
نباشد همی نیک و بد پایدار
همان به که نیکی بود یادگار”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“From moment then to moment their desire
Gained strength, and wisdom fled before love's fire;
Passion engulfed them, and these lovers lay
Entwined together till the break of day.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“Listen: this story's one you ought to know,
You'll reap the consequence of what you sow.
This fleeting world is not the world where we
Are destined to abide eternally:
And for the sake of an unworthy throne
You let the devil claim you for his own.
I've few days left here, I've no heart for war,
I cannot strive and struggle any more,
But hear an old man's words: the heart that's freed
From gnawing passion and ambitious greed
Looks on kings' treasures and the dust as one;
The man who sells his brother, as you've done,
For this same worthless dust, will never be
Regarded as a child of purity.
The world has seen so many men like you,
And laid them low: there's nothing you can do
But turn to God; take thought then for the way
You travel, since it leads to Judgment Day”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“اگر مرگ داد است، بیداد چیست؟
ز داد این همه بانگ و فریاد چیست؟”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“جهانا سراسر فسوسی و باد
بتو نیست مرد خردمند شاد”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“فریدون فرخ فرشته نبود
ز مشک و ز عنبر سرشته نبود
به داد و دهش یافت این نیکویی
تو داد و دهش کن، فریدون تویی”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“I've reached the end of this great history
And all the land will fill with talk of me
I shall not die, these seeds I've sown will save
My name and reputation from the grave,
And men of sense and wisdom will proclaim,
When I have gone, my praises and my fame.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“جهانا مپرور چو خواهی درود
چو می بدروی، پروریدن چه سود؟
برآری یکی را به چرخ بلند
سپاریش ناگه به خاک نژند”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“Zahhak reigned for a thousand years, and from end to end the world was his to command. The wise concealed themselves and their deeds, and devils achieved their heart’s desire. Virtue was despised and magic applauded, justice hid itself away while evil flourished; demons rejoiced in their wickedness, while goodness was spoken of only in secret.”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
“A man who has been killed is like one who has died; he”
― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, quote from Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Born place: Paj, Iran
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“I cannot write myself. What, after all, is this "I" who would write himself? Even as he would enter into the writing, the writing would take the wind out of his sails, would render him null and void -- futile; a gradual dilapidation would occur, in which the other's image, too, would be gradually involved (to write on something is to outmode it), a disgust whose conclusion could only be: what's the use? what obstructs amorous writing is the illusion of expressivity: as a writer, or assuming myself to be one, I continue to fool myself as to the effects of language: I do not know that the word "suffering" expresses no suffering and that, consequently, to use it is not only to communicate nothing but even, and immediately, to annoy, to irritate (not to mention the absurdity). Someone would have to teach me that one cannot write without burying "sincerity" (always the Orpheus myth: not to turn back). What writing demands, and what any lover cannot grant it without laceration, is to sacrifice a little of his Image-repertoire, and to assure thereby, through his language, the assumption of a little reality. All I might produce, at best, is a writing of the Image-repertoire; and for that I would have to renounce the Image-repertoire of writing -- would have to let myself be subjugated by my language, submit to the injustices (the insults) it will not fail to inflict upon the double Image of the lover and of his other.
The language of the Image-repertoire would be precisely the utopia of language: an entirely original, paradisiac language, the language of Adam -- "natural, free of distortion or illusion, limpid mirror of our sense, a sensual language (die sensualische Sprache)": "In the sensual language, all minds converse together, they need no other language, for this is the language of nature.”
― Roland Barthes, quote from A Lover's Discourse: Fragments
“But their mother was the family’s heartbeat. Always she was at the center of their good and bad times, lending perspective or a kind word or a shoulder to cry on.”
― Karen Kingsbury, quote from Reunion
“For anyone of a rational disposition, fashion is often nearly impossible to fathom. Throughout many periods of history – perhaps most – it can seem as if the whole impulse of fashion has been to look maximally ridiculous. If one could be maximally uncomfortable as well, the triumph was all the greater.”
― Bill Bryson, quote from At Home: A Short History of Private Life
“I don’t think it's weak to admit you made a mistake. That takes strength, if you ask me.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Long Earth
“Le parole che definiscono i sentimenti sono molto vaghe; è meglio evitare il loro impiego e attenersi alle descrizioni degli oggetti, degli esseri umani e di se stessi, vale a dire alla descrizione fedele dei fatti.”
― Ágota Kristóf, quote from The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels
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