The Iranian government as a whole has no relationship with my films. They're not particularly interested, perhaps this kind of cinema is not very interesting to them.

I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame.

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect.

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.

A movie is about human beings, about humanity.

In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

Good cinema is what we can believe and bad cinema is what we can't believe. What you see and believe in is very much what I'm interested in.

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

Poems are a hotline to our hearts, and we forget this emotional power at our peril

When you lose a customer, it can be tempting to tell each other, "That customer's not very sharp. They just made the wrong decision".

The hero, therefore, is the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations.

People love scandal; people love drama. They love stripping away the layers to see what's really in there, and they'll do anything - as well as make it up - to get it.

I don't regret nuthin.

The following year, after I had prepared my draft, the Conference of the Interparliamentary Union at The Hague decided to set up a special commission to study the problem seriously.

The world needs an enema.

God may be the captain pilot of the universe, but it appears that the Devil is his co-pilot!