"Older boys often asked me to teach them â€œsome bad words in your languageâ€. At first I politely refused. My refusal merely increased their determination, so I solved the problem by teaching them phrases like 'man kharam' which means â€œI'm an idiotâ€. I told them that what I was teaching them was so nasty that they would have to promise never to repeat it to anyone. They would then spend all of recess running around yelling â€œI'm an idiot! I'm an idiot!â€. I never told them the truth. I figured someday, somebody would"

Source : Firoozeh Dumas (2007). “Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America”, p.34, Random House

Firoozeh Dumas

#Running Quotes #Determination Quotes #Teaching Quotes

“That ere long, now that curiosity has been so much excited on this subject, some human remains will be detected in the older alluvium of European valleys, I confidently expect.”
“Better confide and be deceiv'd, A thousand times, by treacherous foes, Than once accuse the innocent, Or let suspicion mar repose.”
“Rats have a sense of humor. Rats, in fact think the world is very funny. And they are right, dear reader. They are right.”
“You need to understand that a skilled professional songwriter can accelerate your success as an already talented musician. These people are writing every single day, so their craft is really sharp, and it's the best songwriters who consistently get on the radio.”
“How easy it is to be "deep": all you have to do is let yourself sink into your own flaws.”
“As a writer, as much as I try, I can't stop writing female characters. They have so much more to offer; they have to wear so many different hats. There's so much wonderful gray matter in a female's life that it just makes for a stronger character.”

Source : "'The Help' co-star Octavia Spencer and writer/director Tate Taylor". Interview with Matt Pais, www.latimes.com. August 7, 2011.
“The inconsistency of genius is a consistent theme of creativity.”

Source : "How Do We Identify Good Ideas?" by Jonah Lehrer, www.wired.com. January 23, 2012.
“When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this - when you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?”

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