Lots of times you can feel as an exile in a country that you were born in.
Azar NafisiRead
Once we know of atrocities we cannot remain silent, and knowledge inevitably leads to an urge to protect the innocent.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowing about injustices compels us to take action to defend those who cannot defend themselves.
This quote emphasizes the moral responsibility that comes with awareness of suffering and injustice. Once we are made aware of atrocities, it becomes our duty to act and support those who are vulnerable and affected, igniting a sense of courage and urgency to protect the innocent.
Themes
AtrocitiesKnowledgeProtectionInnocentSilence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about human rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for activism.
More from Azar Nafisi
All quotes βAfter the rigged Iranian presidential elections in 2009, the Islamic regime attacked the 'humanities' as the main source of protests, the most effective tool used by the West, especially America, to corrupt and incite Iranian youth, and finally closed down all the Humanities departments in Iran's universities.
Azar NafisiRead
The worst crime committed by totalitarian mind-sets is that they force their citizens, including their victims, to become complicit in their crimes. Dancing with your jailer, participating in your own execution, that is an act of utmost brutality.
Azar NafisiRead
I believe that it is only through empathy, that the pain experienced by an Algerian woman, a North Korean dissident, a Rwandan child or an Iraqi prisoner, becomes real to me and not just passing news. And it is at times like this when I ask myself, am I prepared - like Huck Finn - to give up Sunday school heaven for the kind of hell that Huck chose?
Azar NafisiRead
I am suddenly left alone again on the sunny path, with a memory of the rain.
Azar NafisiRead
It takes courage to die for a cause, but also to live for one.
Azar NafisiRead
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Speak, speak, speak, & remember that whenever anyone's liberty to speak is denied, your liberty is denied also, & your place is where the attack is.
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