Shah of Shahs Quotes

“Oil creates the illusion of a completely changed life, life without work, life for free. Oil is a resource that anaesthetises thought, blurs vision, corrupts.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Oil kindles extraordinary emotions and hopes, since oil is above all a great temptation. It is the temptation of ease, wealth, strength, fortune, power. It is a filthy, foul-smelling liquid that squirts obligingly up into the air and falls back to earth as a rustling shower of money.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Development is a treacherous river, as
everyone who plunges into its currents knows.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“...what has made it possible for us to remain ourselves in spite of so many wars, invasions and occupations, is our spiritual, not our material, strength--our poetry, and not out technology; our religion, and not our factories.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“From a logical point of view, anyone
who sets out to create a Great Civilization ought to begin with people, with training cadres of experts
in order to form a native intelligentsia. But it was precisely that kind of thinking that was unacceptable. Open new universities and polytechnics, every one a hornets' nest, every student a rebel, a good-for-nothing, a freethinker?”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Revolution must be distinguished from revolt, coup d’état, palace takeover. A coup or a palace takeover may be planned, but a revolution—never. Its outbreak, the hour of that outbreak, takes everyone, even those who have been striving for it, unawares. They stand amazed at the spontaneity that appears suddenly and destroys everything in its path. It demolishes so ruthlessly that in the end it may annihilate the ideals that called it into being.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“God,’ he said, ‘why have you chastised me with such a terrible deformity as thinking? Why have you taught me to think, instead of teaching me the humility of cattle!”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Every day I practice yoga, read poetry, and translate. What do I need politics for?”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“It is not always the best people who emerge from hiding, from the corners and cracks of that farmedout field, but often those who have proven themselves strongest, not always those who will create new values but rather those whose thick skin and internal resilience have ensured their survival.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Іран — це була двадцять сьома революція, яку я бачив у Третьому Світі. Посеред гуркоту й диму змінювалися володарі, падали уряди, у кріслах засідали нові люди. Але одне було незмінним, незнищенним, боюся сказати — вічним: безпорадність. Як же ці іранські комітети нагадували те, що я бачив у Болівії й Мозамбіку, в Судані й Беніні.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Bo też gdyby owa konsumpcja przywilejów, owo wielkie żarcie odbywało się jakoś po cichu, dyskretnie -wziął, schował i nic nie widać, poucztował, przedtem zasłaniając firankami okna, pobudował się, lecz głęboko w lesie, żeby innych nie drażnić. Ale gdzie tam! Tutaj zwyczaj nakazuje, żeby olśnić i oszołomić, żeby wyłożyć wszystko jak na wystawie, zapalić wszystkie światła, oślepić, rzucić na kolana, przytłoczyć, zmiażdżyć! Po cóż w ogóle mieć? Żeby tylko milczkiem, na boku, gdzieś tam, coś tam, podobno mówią, ktoś mówił, ktoś słyszał, ale gdzie, co? Nie! Tak mieć, to nie mieć wcale! Naprawdę mieć, to trąbić, że się ma, zwoływać, żeby oglądali, niech patrzą i podziwiają, niech im oczy wychodzą na wierzch! I rzeczywiście, na oczach milczącego i coraz bardziej wrogiego tłumu nowa klasa daje pokaz irańskiego dolce vita, które nie zna umiaru w swoim rozpasaniu, zachłanności i cynizmie. Sprowokuje ona pożar, w którego płomieniach zginie wraz ze swoim stworzycielem i protektorem.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“...że nie ma takiego nonsensu, którego umysł ludzki nie byłby zdolny wymyślić.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Here it is different, here the past is as alive as the present, the unpredictable cruel Stone Age coexists with the calculating, cool age of electronics—the two eras live in the same man, who is as much the descendant of Genghis Khan as he is the student of Edison… if, that is, he ever comes into contact with Edison’s world.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs

“Unfortunately, the monarch's satisfaction is not to last long. Development is a treacherous river, as
everyone who plunges into its currents knows. On the surface the water flows smoothly and quickly,
but if the captain makes one careless or thoughtless move he finds out how many whirlpools and wide
shoals the river contains. As the ship comes upon more and more of these hazards the captain's brow
gets more and more furrowed. He keeps singing and whistling to keep his spirits up. The ship looks
as if it is still traveling forward, yet it is stuck in one place. The prow has settled on a sandbar. All
this, however, happens later.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Shah of Shahs