Marjane Quotes & Sayings

Nothing's worse than saying goodbye. It's a little like dying. — Marjane Satrapi

Men's pride is situated in their scrotums. — Marjane Satrapi

We always say we are equal in front of death, but when you are rich, for example, and you have everybody taking care of you, I think that you suffer much less. It must be much more painful to die when you are poor than when you are rich. But when your heart is broken, you can be rich, poor, whatever - a broken heart, we are all equal in front of it. And I think there is no subject more serious. — Marjane Satrapi

Life is absolutely unbearable. And we're going to die. — Marjane Satrapi

I love the French for their sarcasm, their irony. I love them for their bad moods. — Marjane Satrapi

Life is too short to be lived badly. — Marjane Satrapi

I don't want to quit smoking. I am convinced that if I quit smoking, the world would go to hell. — Marjane Satrapi

All big changes of the world come from words. — Marjane Satrapi

Whether this tale be true or false, none can tell, for none were there to witness it themselves. — Marjane Satrapi

You know, the cynicism that is in the politics, it is not for my soul. It makes me - out of me, an extremely bitter, cynical person that I hate to see in the mirror, really. — Marjane Satrapi

For me George Bush is just as scary, if not more. Because he doesn't look like a scary guy, because he's shaved and he has a tie on. But he's a real fanatic - a fanatic by definition is the one who says, if you are not with me, you are against me, and that's exactly the position he takes. The mullahs in my country, it's obvious. But a guy who says I am the president of the biggest secular democracy in the world and asks people to read the Bible and make crusades and says he's God's best friend - this guy is even more scary because you don't see it at the beginning. — Marjane Satrapi

It's true that, in Iran, women have half of the rights men do. And yet 66 per cent of students are women. — Marjane Satrapi

I had two major activities as a child. I was trying to put on shows with kids in my street, or I was drawing. Actually, what I'm doing now is exactly what I was doing then. Either I'm drawing, or I'm gathering people for a common project. The only difference is that now they are paying me for that. — Marjane Satrapi

Life is complex. You don't have any person who is nice from the beginning until the end. You don't always have the notion of redemption. The bad people don't always pay. — Marjane Satrapi

The way that you remember your life, it's never linear. You have flashes of different moments of your life, and the flashes aren't equal; they have different styles. — Marjane Satrapi

You know, comics were created at the same time as the cinema. And the cinema very quickly became a major art. Cartooning didn't become a major art. There's a reason for that. People don't know how to deal with drawings. — Marjane Satrapi

It's not like since I make comics I only read comics and since I make movies I will only go out and watch movies. Any kind of artistic expression interests me; it goes from literature to music to sculpture, painting; whatever is extremely inspiring for me becomes a reference also for me. — Marjane Satrapi

I'm very open and never write what I'm going to say. Speeches bore everybody else. I have to freestyle. Every time, from one program to another, everything changes and I improvise. — Marjane Satrapi

The most exciting time is when I think of an idea and how I imagine I can make it. It would be wonderful if there was a projector inside my eye that and it could just put the idea on the screen for people to see. — Marjane Satrapi

In the West, people don't have any real problems. It's all based on bad conscience, a very Christian notion. I don't have any bad conscience. If there's a God that created us, if I am bad, it's his fault. — Marjane Satrapi

The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls. — Marjane Satrapi

I think animation is like running a marathon, and making a movie is like a 100 meter sprint. The question is: are you a marathon man or are you a sprinter? I realized that I was more of a sprinter than a marathon man. With a long, long project, I get bored easily. — Marjane Satrapi

With animation, if something does not fit, you always have the time to change it. When you make a live-action movie, when your days of shooting are over, they are over forever. — Marjane Satrapi

The language in a comic book or a graphic novel and the cinematographic language are really not the same language. They are false brother and sister. It's not at all the same. — Marjane Satrapi

People are so afraid to say the word 'comic'. It makes you think of a grown man with pimples, a ponytail and a big belly. Change it to 'graphic novel' and that disappears. — Marjane Satrapi

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

I rushed to the living room to protect myself from I don't know what, behind my best friend, a book. — Marjane Satrapi

The world is not about Batman and Robin fighting the Joker; things are more complicated than that. And nothing is scarier than the people who try to find easy answers to complicated questions. — Marjane Satrapi

I have my dark side. You have your dark side. From the second that we have a brain, there are things that are not right - we are human beings with all these illusions and complexes and everything. That's attractive to me. — Marjane Satrapi

Image is an international language. — Marjane Satrapi

The information I have about Iran is second hand. — Marjane Satrapi

I don't like the word 'autobiography.' I rather like the term 'autofiction.' The second you make a script out of the story of your life, it becomes fictional. Of course, the truth is never far. But the story is created out of it. — Marjane Satrapi

A real love story has to finish bad. That is what I think. — Marjane Satrapi

I always say to people, 'You know, if Romeo and Juliet got married, nobody would care about them.' Imagine Romeo and Juliet, six kids yelling, 'Mama, Mama, Papa, Papa!' — Marjane Satrapi

As a director, you have to understand what is happening - if I don't understand it, you can't make changes. — Marjane Satrapi

I chose the actors that I was in love with. I cannot work with people that I don't personally like a lot. They can be the best actor in the world, but if the first contact is not good, if I don't fall in love with them, then I don't want to work with them. It's impossible. — Marjane Satrapi

When we're afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression. — Marjane Satrapi

In every religion, you find the same extremists. — Marjane Satrapi

To be the mistress of a married man is to have the better role. Do you realize? His dirty shirt, his disgusting underwear, his daily ironing, his bad breath, his hemorrhoid attacks, his fuss, not to mention his bad moods, and his tantrums. Well all that is for his wife.
When a married man comes to his mistress ... he's always bleached and ironed, his teeth sparkle, his breath is like perfume, he's in a good mood, he's full of conversation, he is there to have a good time with you. — Marjane Satrapi

I wasn't made to take orders. My grandmother used to tell me: 'Laws are for idiots.' She was right. — Marjane Satrapi

Rule number six: Everybody should have a car
Rule number seven: All maids should eat at the table with the others
Rule number eight: No old person should have to suffer
Grandmother: In that case, I'll be your first disciple.
Persepolis: Really?
Grandmother: But tell me how you'll arrange for old people not to suffer?
Persepolis: It will simply be forbidden. — Marjane Satrapi

Once again, I arrived at my usual conclusion: one must educate oneself. — Marjane Satrapi

I was a child who had a life, who had hopes, and I wished that a bomb would not fall on my head. — Marjane Satrapi

I'm not a religious person at all. — Marjane Satrapi

I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor. — Marjane Satrapi

I really didn't know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde. I was born with religion. At the age of six I was already sure I was the last prophet. This was few years before the revolution. — Marjane Satrapi

There's this scene in "The Night of the Hunter" when the kids are downstairs, and you have the feeling that they're both in a room and at the same time it looks remote. And you wonder, How can you give the effect of both "inside" and "outside" at the same time. And you realize, by watching it many times, that around the scene there's this black edging. — Marjane Satrapi

I never wanted to make a graphic novel. As soon as you become a 'writer,' you have to be intelligent all the time ... I like the fact that I have the right once in a while to say silly things. — Marjane Satrapi

If it's a good work of adaptation, the book should remain a book and the film should remain a film, and you should not necessarily read the book to see the film. If you do need that, then that means that it's a failure. That is what I think. — Marjane Satrapi

The regime had understood that one person leaving her house while asking herself:
Are my trousers long enough?
Is my veil in place?
Can my make-up be seen?
Are they going to whip me?
No longer asks herself:
Where is my freedom of thought?
Where is my freedom of speech?
My life, is it liveable?
What's going on in the political prisons? — Marjane Satrapi

Smoking kills you, but life kills you, and if you don't want to die, go into a freezer when you are born and nothing will happen to you. — Marjane Satrapi

Adaptation of books is never a success. When the author wants to make it, it's even worse. — Marjane Satrapi

I don't like 'graphic novel.' It's a word that publishers created for the bourgeois to read comics without feeling bad. Comics is just a way of narrating - it's just a media type. — Marjane Satrapi

My culture comes from everywhere. I'm sick of this notion of nationality, that if you're brought up in the same city or same country you're the same. Even three kids brought up in the same family with the same genes, they are not the same. Just consider a human a human. — Marjane Satrapi

You know, they say in France that translation is like a woman: she is either beautiful or faithful. — Marjane Satrapi

But violence is news, to a certain extent, and people don't want complicated news. Because as soon as you realize things are complicated, your life becomes more complicated. — Marjane Satrapi

'The Jungle Book.' It's one of the best animated films ever. I saw it when I was small at a cinema in Tehran. — Marjane Satrapi

Death, torture and prison are part of daily life for the youth of Iran. They are not like us, my friends and I at their age; they are not scared. They are not what we were. They hold hands and scream: 'Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! We are together!' They understand that no one will give them their rights; they must go get them. — Marjane Satrapi

I'm not a politician because I'm an artist. Politicians have a very easy answer for a very complicated question. I have a very complicated question for what you consider very easy situations. — Marjane Satrapi

Evil is international and the fanatic is international and universal. There is no difference between a Muslim fanatic, a Christian fanatic, even a secular fanatic. — Marjane Satrapi

Business is very personal. For me, everything is extremely personal. With actors, the fact that I write helps, because when you say to an actor "Oh I want you to do it a little bit more ... ," without saying what you want more of, then the actor doesn't know what to do. But if you can put into words exactly what you want, then the experience of writing is helpful with that. — Marjane Satrapi

That's the story of life - when you start enjoying people, it's always too late. — Marjane Satrapi

I wrote the plot [for the Persepolis ]and Vincent [Paronnaud] and I wrote and discussed the shooting of the script. Vincent then took care of the production design, the actual shooting, and what was going on within each scene. It's very difficult, though, to draw a line between who did what. Because Vincent would say something, and I would add something, and at the end you have this film, yet no clear idea of who did what. — Marjane Satrapi

My point of view when I make a book or I make a movie is to see the humanistic point of view. The point of view of the daily life of normal people. — Marjane Satrapi

I became the voice of a generation in a very surprising way, because many Iranians recognize themselves in it. But that is not what I wanted. — Marjane Satrapi

I almost don't know how to write an email. — Marjane Satrapi

You have to be narcissistic to be an artist. You have to think you are the centre of the whole thing; otherwise, why do you create? The only thing is to recognise it, and then you make the best of it. — Marjane Satrapi

Prosperity consists of two things: tea after a meal, and a cigarette after tea. — Marjane Satrapi

I like making comics and animation because it takes such a long time. I'm not a runner of the 100 meter. I like marathons. The longer it takes, the better I feel. — Marjane Satrapi

Racism is not nearly as important as poverty. That's the same around the world. What look like ethnic problems are really economic issues. If you look closely at all these conflicts around the world, they come down to poverty and economics and resources. The more poverty, the worse the war. — Marjane Satrapi

It's fear that makes us lose our conscience. It's also what transforms us into cowards. — Marjane Satrapi

I'm extremely unbearable. You know, I'm narcissistic and at the same time I'm very charming - I think. — Marjane Satrapi

I think that all stories - if you make movies about zombies and aliens - it has always to do with your personal story. If not directly, it is about your fears, your obsessions, things like that. — Marjane Satrapi

To speak behind others' backs is the ventilator of the heart. — Marjane Satrapi

I like to be sad once in a while. You need it for your equilibrium. — Marjane Satrapi

We [with Marjane Satrapi] both have very strong personalities, but that's completely normal, because even if you're very well prepared, you never know when you shoot live action. — Vincent Paronnaud

I don't consider myself as a feminist but more a humanist. — Marjane Satrapi

It's cinematographic to smoke. Imagine Lauren Bacall without a cigarette. — Marjane Satrapi

I'm a very individualistic person. That is why I don't belong to any political party or anything. I really believe in justice and freedom. — Marjane Satrapi

One isn't born courageous, one becomes it. — Marjane Satrapi

If you know a little bit the psychology of human beings, you have to understand that if you say something you should not do, then everybody wants to do it. — Marjane Satrapi

You hear people saying, 'Oh I'm so tired, I've had enough of Cannes.' How can you have enough of Cannes? It's just the best place to be, like a fairytale. — Marjane Satrapi

In any case, it's the cowardice of people like you who give dictators the chance to install themselves! — Marjane Satrapi

Anything that has a relationship with pleasure, we reject it. Eating, they talk about cholesterol; making love, they talk about AIDS; you talk about smoking, they talk about cancer. It's a very sick society that rejects pleasure. — Marjane Satrapi

One can forgive but one should never forget. — Marjane Satrapi

The novels have done so well because the drawings are abstract, black-and-white. This adds to the universality of the story. "Persepolis" also has dreamlike moments, and the drawings help maintain cohesion and consistency. — Marjane Satrapi

In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance ... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself. — Marjane Satrapi

Here's the problem: the description of the world is always reduced to yes or no, black or white. Superficial stories. Superhero stories. One side is the good one. The other one is evil. — Marjane Satrapi

To tell you the truth, I never wanted to become a moviemaker. It was like I was a cinepihile, and I go, like, three or four times per week to the cinema, and I like to watch films. — Marjane Satrapi

It's always extremely interesting to speak at colleges. My books are taught in many colleges in America and are part of the educational system, so it's really important to me. I don't believe in so many things in life, but something I believe in is education. — Marjane Satrapi

With live-action I think we'd have lost the universal appeal of the Persepolis story. With live-action, it would have turned into a story of 'the Other' - people living in a distant land who don't look like us. It might have been exotic, but also a "Third-World" story. — Marjane Satrapi

I have always thought that if women's hair posed so many problems, God would certainly have made us bald. — Marjane Satrapi

I think the best work of the director is to listen to what all the technicians around him have to say, but then the thing is to take the best decision, what you think is the best. Then, that is the moment where you have to have all the film in your head and imagine how all of that will fit together. — Marjane Satrapi

Today, we don't talk about history. The past is two weeks ago, and the future is two weeks after. — Marjane Satrapi

I don't believe in the clash of cultures. The culture is one. The culture is a ring off the same chain. Picasso was very much influenced by the African arts, and he influenced a whole other generation of artists. So everything influences everything. — Marjane Satrapi

I asked him what his work was. He answered that he devoted all his time to his political activities ... He was undoubtedly busy with the diplomatic relations between his testicles and women's breast. — Marjane Satrapi

I loved Chiara Mastroianni voice, her talent, her generosity. We rehearsed for two months ... She's a workaholic and perfectionist, like Vincent [ Paronnaud] and myself. — Marjane Satrapi

The first writing of the human being was drawing, not writing. — Marjane Satrapi

We were not in the same social class but at least we were at the same bed. — Marjane Satrapi

You cannot be completely nice. It's impossible. Who is it? Who is the perfect guy? Show him to me! It doesn't exist. And thank god. — Marjane Satrapi