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The best fiction always forced us to question what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed too immutable.

— Azar Nafisi Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

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More quotes by Azar Nafisi

Khatami is a symptom and not the cause of change in Iran.

This, I believe, is how the villain in modern fiction is born: a creature without compassion, without empathy.

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

Every great work of art ... is a celebration, an act of insubordination against the betrayals, horrors and infidelities of life.

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won't be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel.

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels — the biggest sin is to be blind to others' problems and pains. Not seeing them means denying their existence.

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Azar Nafisi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.