The Septembers of Shiraz Quotes

“If something must be said, it will say itself. The writer's task is to listen.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“And since when is stealing people's possessions the call of God? you are all hypocrites who have suddenly come into power, and you don't know how to handle it”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“Since when are you so 'faithful'? just a couple of years ago you would show up in your tight jeans and borrow our car to pick up one of your five girlfriends. You think that beard makes you a man of God?”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“A man has a right to want to live.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“He sees his world in black and white: Filthy snow, a hollow sky, the gray cement of the walls - water stains, like giant ink spills, eating into them - and his own skin, an ashy patina enveloping his body. Even the wounds on his feet, hardened and crusted, have lost their red. He has come to think of colour as something fantastic that exists only in his mind - the red of a tomato sliced and salted at the lunch table, the deep blue of a lapis lazuli on Farnaz's finger, the honey hue of his daughter's hair in the sun.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“Har Haji yek jour Makeh miravad—Every pilgrim goes to Mecca his own way.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“What an illusion, she thinks, the idea of an ordered, ordinary life.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“New York loves expanse. It grows upward and spreads its tentacles outward, the island spilling into adjoining lands through its many bridges and tunnels. A person given to idleness, as Parvis has come to think of himself, must move about for the sake of moving, if only to fit into the general scheme of things - an electron obeying the current. Tantamount to movement, he has come to realize, is self-reliance, a fact reflected in the language: "Take care," a friend may say to another as the two part. In his old life the same two friends would have said to one another, khodahfez - "may God protect you.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“even find in it an occasional reprieve, a person must always alternate his hours of sleep, his road to work, the places he visits, the foods he eats, and even, perhaps, the people he loves.”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“How unyielding is that space between connection and interruption --- one false move, one misspoken word, and you find yourself on the wrong side of things. - Parviz”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz

“Now he is settled here. He has an apartment, a shop, and, God bless him, a dog. He says he is done with women. And who can blame him, after all that?”
― Dalia Sofer, The Septembers of Shiraz