Zoroastrianism Quotes

“In 762, to symbolize and propel the new order, Al-Mansur decided to build the grand new capital of Baghdad as a massive round city. The caliph assembled an elite team of the empire’s top engineers, architects, and visionaries—notably including Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews, such as Mashallah Ibnul-Athari.”
― Mohamad Jebara, The Life of the Qur'an: From Eternal Roots to Enduring Legacy

“Truth is best (of all that is) good. As desired, what is being desired is truth for him who (represents) the best truth. (Gathas 27.14)”
― Zarathustra

“To Judaism Christians ascribe the glory of having been the first religion to teach a pure monotheism. But monotheism existed long before the Jews attained to it. Zoroaster and his earliest followers were monotheists, dualism being a later development of the Persian theology. The adoption of monotheism by the Jews, which occurred only at a very late period in their history, was not, however, the result of a divine revelation, or even of an intellectual superiority, for the Jews were immeasurably inferior intellectually to the Greeks and Romans, to the Hindus and Egyptians, and to the Assyrians and Babylonians, who are supposed to have retained a belief in polytheism. This monotheism of the Jews has chiefly the result of a religious intolerance never before equaled and never since surpassed, except in the history of Christianity and Mohammedanism, the daughters of Judaism. Jehovistic priests and kings tolerated no rivals of their god and made death the penalty for disloyalty to him. The Jewish nation became monotheistic for the same reason that Spain, in the clutches of the Inquisition, became entirely Christian.”
― John E. Remsburg, The Christ

“His voice was reassuring and calm, his expression soft, his eyes brighter than ever. Oh Ahura Mazda, she’d never wanted any man so intently in all her life. She ached to have him touch her, kiss her, taste her. And Ivar did as she wished. He put her hand to his nose to smell her skin, kissed her inner wrist to taste her, his lips lingered over her racing pulse. Finally, it was confirmed in actions and direct words, spoken aloud and repeated seven times… She felt the rush of desire ripping through her body, an intense sensation of warmth upon her skin, the blissful waves of uneasiness swamped through her, tingling her nerves.”
― Widad Akreyi, The Viking's Kurdish Love: A True Story of Zoroastrians' Fight for Survival

“Carol was dismayed to find the Christian religion, in America, in the twentieth century, as abnormal as Zoroastrianism – without the splendor.”
― Sinclair Lewis, Main Street

“A moment later, Vesta became aware that her life was passing her by in that busy city, where no man could capture her heart… What if she married someone, who wasn’t mentally prepared to keep his Zoroastrian identity intact? Or what if her future husband was forced to convert to Islam? What if he tried to force her to convert as well? What if he suddenly decided to become an extremist and called for Sharia Laws in Kurdland? She shivered at the thought.”
― Widad Akreyi, The Viking's Kurdish Love: A True Story of Zoroastrians' Fight for Survival

“You are because God is, God is because you are. But that experience one in a million can have.”
― Meher Baba, Selected Messages of Meher Baba

“The timepiece had been a birthday gift from Arian, his nineteen-year-old cousin in Tehran. It was plastered with pastoral steel and had the Faravahar hieroglyph sketched on it. This ancient pictogram was the symbol of a guardian angel. A remnant of a primeval daemon designed to protect the Persians. The clock’s circumference was decorated with the flowers of life and in the middle there was a scripture written in cuneiform that read Good Deeds, Good Thoughts & Good Words.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams

“That place is happy over which a holy man builds a house, with fire, cattle, wife, children and good followers”
― The God

“Marjan measured Bahar's unpredictable temperament according to the ancient and treasured Zoroastrian practice of gastronomic balancing, which pitted light and against dark, good against evil, hot against cold. Certain hot, or 'garm,' personalities tend to be quick to temper, exude more energy, and prompt all others around them to action. This energy often runs itself ragged, so to counter exhaustion, one must consume cold, or 'sard' foods, such as freshwater fish, yogurt, coriander, watermelon, and lentils. Most spices and meats should be avoided, for they only stoke the fires inside. (Tea, although hot in temperature, is quite a neutralizing element.) By contrast, for the person who suffers from too cold a temperament, marked by extreme bouts of melancholia and a general disinterest in the future, hot or 'garm' dishes are recommended. Foods such as veal, mung beans, cloves, and figs do well to raise spirits and excite ambitions.
To diagnose Bahar as a 'garmi' (on account of her extreme anxiety and hot temper) would have been simple enough, had she not also suffered from a lowness of spirit that often led to migraine headaches. Whether in a 'garm' or a 'sard' mood, Bahar could always depend on her older sister to guide her back to a relative calm. Marjan had for a long time kept a close eye on Bahar and knew exactly when to feed her sautéed fish with garlic and Seville oranges to settle her hot flashes, or when a good apple 'khoresh,' a stew made from tart apples, chicken, and split peas, would be a better choice to pull Bahar out of her doldrums.”
― Marsha Mehran, Pomegranate Soup

“When it comes to zero-point energy, i for one say 'zero is self' not wanting to be by itself hence why self fluctuates itself. Self fluctuates itself so not to be by itself. Self fluctuates itself so to embrace itself. Self fluctuates itself so to experience companionship oneself. Self fluctuates itself so to experience friendship oneself. Self fluctuates itself so to experience love oneself. What it means is that, irrelevant of time, all that is here is self and that the purpose of self is love.”
― Wald Wassermann

“All talk about the path and the goal is as a lantern carried by a blind man. The blind man needs a staff in his hand, the seeker needs his hand in the God-Man's”
― Meher Baba, Selected Messages of Meher Baba

“Amir then showed off his moonwalk prowess as he started to walk backward toward Tara again.

Tara closed her eyes and laughed. She took a sip from her glass and said, “Divaneh!”

“I am crazy. Crazy for you!” Amir said with eyebrows raised and still dancing in his spot.

Tara sat on the edge of the bed, glass in hand and with the other smoothed a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Did you know that Persian demons did everything backward?” she said.

“Did they now?” Amir replied still dancing.

“They did. The word for demons, div, comes from the Avesta language meaning ‘a spirit or deity personifying evil.’ They were creatures that wreaked havoc.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” Tara replied with a smile. “And we’ve got Ferdowsi and the old Persian language to thank for the word divaneh too.”

“So are you telling me that I’m a demon?” Amir didn’t get where Tara was going as he walked back toward the dressing table.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“The eternal fire, the atar, Atash long ago extinguished in the spirit of many. This little flame was a poor imitation of that never-ending flame the Persians have revered for thousands of years.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish