Life hangs from so slender a thread. Life is but a sigh.. - Marjane Satrapi

Dalam hidup kau akan bertemu banyak orang brengsek. Kalau mereka menyakitimu, katakan pada dirimu sendiri itu karena mereka bodoh. Itu akan membantu mencegahmu bereaksi pada kekejaman mereka. Karena tidak ada yang lebih buruk daripada kebencian dan balas dendam. Selalu jaga martabatmu dan jujurlah pada dirimu sendiri.

The words are not the same and the feeling is not the same. You know, they say in France that translation is like a woman. She is either beautiful or faithful. So it’s better when she’s beautiful because when she’s too faithful it might be very ugly. This is French people. This translation, though, is very well made. This is my American editor, who knows me very well who has made the translation. But in any translation you lose a little bit.

"Don't let it get to you, mom! The Western media also fights against us. That's where our reputation as fundamentalists and terrorists comes from."
"You're right. Between one's fanaticism and the other's disdain, it's hard to know which side to choose. Personally, I hate Saddam and I have no sympathy for the Kuwaitism but I hate just as much the cynicism of the allies who call themselves "liberators" while they're there for the oil."
"Exactly. Just look at Afghanistan! They fought there for ten years. There were 900,000 dead and today the country is still in chaos. No one lifted a finger! Because Afghanistan is poor! The worst is that the intervention in Kuwait is done in the name of the human rights! Which rights? Which humans?"
At the time, this kind of analysis wasn't commonplace. After our own war, we were happy that Iraq got itself attacked and delighted that it wasn't happening in our country. We were finally able to sleep peacefully without fear of missiles... We no longed needed to line up with our food ration coupon...the rest mattered little. And then, there wasn't any more opposition. The protesters had been executed. Or had fled the country any way possible. The regime had absolute power...and most people , in search of a cloud of happiness, had forgotten their political conscience.