Quotes & Sayings About Rahman

It's true that I love to connect with my fans on the social networking sites, but I try not to go overboard, ever. I just give people a peek into my mind space, but never bombard them with my tweets. — A.R. Rahman

Some things are very low profile, but if they excite me creatively, I accept them. Sometimes there are high-profile projects, and you have to do it. We all have human limitations. It is a painful decision to turn things down. Even accepting 'Slumdog Millionaire' was a decision that I had to sacrifice another project. — A.R. Rahman

I have now reigned above fifty years in victory and peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to be wanting for my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen. O man, place not thy confidence in this present world! — Abd-ar-Rahman III

Rather than making money I believe in making people happy, all other things are secondary. Money isn't important, creative satisfaction is — A.R. Rahman

No sight better expresses the politics of aid, the dynamics of the West and the developing countries, than the image of children, happy or in need. — Zia Haider Rahman

Music is the only passion I shamelessly indulge in. However, for recreation I enjoy watching movies. 'Wizard of Oz' was the first film I ever saw, followed by the 'Bond' movies. I also watch a lot of World cinema through DVDs mostly brought by one of my best friends who's now based in Toronto. — A.R. Rahman

My mother's belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after our family went through a rough patch following my father's death. Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadri changed our lives, and all of us converted to Sufism. But it wasn't an instantaneous decision - it took us 10 years to convert. The change in religion was like washing away the past. — A.R. Rahman

I don't want to expose my personal life. It's best that people know me for my work. My family doesn't want to be surrounded by cameras. We want to live like any other family. — A.R. Rahman

people who have made India awesome aren't all politicians. Most of the people that did this are not from the government. Whether it is entrepreneurs like J.R.D. Tata and N.R. Narayana Murthy, sportspersons like Sachin Tendulkar or musicians like A.R. Rahman, people from all walks of life have helped improve our nation. Not just celebrities, but E. Sreedharan, responsible for the Delhi Metro, and Dr Verghese Kurien, who created the Amul revolution, were all ordinary people doing their work extraordinarily well. Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda, two of the most influential figures in India's history, never held political office. Aim to be one of those people who made India awesome. — Chetan Bhagat

Music is all about transporting people; speaking a language which languages fail to express. — A.R. Rahman

My point is that you could think of the people you meet in your life as questions, there to help you figure out who you are, what you're made of, and what you want. In life, as in our new version of the game, you start off not knowing the answer. It's only when the particles rub against each other that we figure out their properties. It's the strangest thing, this idea in quantum physics, and yet somehow unsurprising when you consider it as a metaphor. It's when the thing interacts that its properties are revealed, even resolved. — Zia Haider Rahman

In Bilaath, I said. Bilaath, or Vilayet as it has otherwise been transcribed into English, derives from Persian and Ottoman Turkish, in which the word meant governorate or district. In Bengali, the word is used to refer to Britain. In fact, one English colloquial name for Britain, Blighty, somewhat archaic these days and mainly reserved for comedy, is derived from the word Bilaath, which was current in India in the time of the British Raj. — Zia Haider Rahman

In your imagination, nothing is impossible — Raisa Rahman

As I reached the highest step, I turned. Spread along the platform was a mass of bobbing black hair like a long wave of silk. Suddenly I felt the first stirrings of what I would later come to recognize as kinship, a feeling that alarmed me, a sense that I was of a piece with a group of people for the most basic reasons, simple to the senses and irrational. — Zia Haider Rahman

While my mother wanted me to be a musician, I wanted to become an electronic engineer. — A.R. Rahman

...practicing or teaching business administration can, inshallah, essentially become a profession that is full of righteous acts on the part of the believer if a person follows the rights, commands, and limits established in Islam. — Mohammad Rahman

The best way would be education and kids and all that stuff and then education and working education comes through. Then I started a music school and the music school now teaches kids to play the violin and the viola. — A.R. Rahman

This struggle between good and evil, fresh and stale, new and decrepit,
between the vigor of moral youth and the dotage of senility, is of positive benefit, for it keeps the perennial moral values alive — Fazlur Rahman

A. R. Rahman is truly India's Mozart. His music is celebrated worldwide. — Kailash Kher

There were basically three themes. One was the sun theme which is the guitar when he'd get sun on his leg and it comes again in the end. And there's of course the lullaby which Dido sang, "If I Rise." And then there's this driving guitar which is the motivation theme. — A.R. Rahman

Empirical knowledge itself is of little benefit unless it awakens the inner perception of man as to his own situation, his potentialities, his risks, and his destiny — Fazlur Rahman

When evil enters the world, do you think it comes with horns and cloven feet, billowing some foul stench? — Zia Haider Rahman

Since I worked with Danny Boyle before on Slumdog Millionaire, we have great success and everything. So, when I first got the script and the screenplay of Simon (Beaufoy) and I was reading it, even before the shoot, some kind of sounds came into my mind and I put some stuff [down] and sent it to Danny when he was cutting the movie. — A.R. Rahman

Since when did books ever solve anything? They only raise more questions than they answer, otherwise they're just fucking entertainment, and I am not here to fucking entertain you. — Zia Haider Rahman

Though the elite have been opened, and have opened themselves to the world, the world has not opened to all. Access is not the same as integration. But what is crucial is that no one is explicitly excluded. The effect is to blame non-elites for their lack of interest. As we have seen, the result of this logic is damning. The distinction between the elites and the rest of us appears to be a choice. It is cosmopolitanism that explains elite status to elites and closed-mindedness that explains those who choose not to participate. What matters are individual attributes and capacities, not durable inequalities. From this point of view, those who are not successful are not necessarily disadvantaged; they are simply those who have failed to seize the opportunities afforded by our new, open society. — Shamus Rahman Khan

I divide criticism into two categories - one coming from those who understand music, who are worthy of being critical because they are knowledgeable about what they are saying; and then there is another category of people who would criticise you anyway, whether your work is good or bad. — A.R. Rahman

I don't even know where mine [Oscar award] is. My mother has hidden it because everybody who comes in wants to take a photograph of it. So what she's done is she put it inside a suitcase somewhere. — A.R. Rahman

The more dollars the studio producers put in, the less freedom we have. If the budget hits $100m, they get scared - they'll take the existing score of a successful movie and expect composers to copy it, like wallpaper. The biggest challenge for any composer in Hollywood is to be as creative as possible within those boundaries. — A.R. Rahman

I usually work on a film soundtrack for two years, turning in a song every few months, and that keeps my creative energy high, because I'm constantly rotating projects. The trick is to make sure I don't work too hard and get exhausted. — A.R. Rahman

It's always nice to learn a thing or two from a novel, don't you think? — Zia Haider Rahman

The corruption of religious leaders, who were expected to be the source of spiritual force and regeneration, is the last step in the of decay of a community. — Fazlur Rahman

The whole thing is too abstract, continued Zafar, this business of our lives standing for something else. All we know is that we don't want it to stand for nothing. So we dive headlong into becoming heroes, becoming the big swinging dick on Wall Street or the rock star or the hot-shot human rights lawyer. Which is about making our lives stand for something that our intelligence can grasp, saving us from confronting what we fear might be true - or what we would fear if we gave ourselves the chance - namely, that we're accidental pieces of flesh, mutton without meaning. — Zia Haider Rahman

In my opinion, everybody has the same soul from God and we are united by that. Outside, our bodies are different, our faces are different, but inside we are all the same, we share the same feelings of sadness, love, pain My music comes out of these feelings. Whether it is Japanese music, African, Qawalli, or any other form of music, if it touches your heart it becomes important for me. — A.R. Rahman

The purpose of man's creation is that he do good in the world, not substitute
himself for God and think that he can make and unmake the moral law at his own
convenience and for his own selfish and narrow ends. This is the difference between
physical laws and the moral law - the one is to be used and put to service; the other
must be obeyed and served. For God says — Fazlur Rahman

That was a very different emotion and I felt Dido's words would be good and I had a template with my voice in it. Then, when he heard it, he wanted both our voices together in it and that's the scene when he sees the boy and then he gets charged to go on that final cutting effort. — A.R. Rahman

Each one of us has our own evolution of life, and each one of us goes through different tests which are unique and challenging. But certain things are common. And we do learn things from each other's experience. On a spiritual journey, we all have the same destination. — A.R. Rahman

Every man, he said, carries his own pyre. — Zia Haider Rahman

He, like so many of them, came from that breed of international development experts unsparing in its love for all humanity but having no interest in people. — Zia Haider Rahman

It had a language. It's a very emotional language that only exists in India, that part of [inaudible] so we wanted to use that. I had two versions - one with my voice and one with the girl's voice. But he preferred the girl's voice and he preferred my voice with an [inaudible]. — A.R. Rahman

Pointing to the sandstone buildings around us, some of which had stood there for several hundreds of years, she commented on how old everything in Oxford looked. Can't they afford anything new? she asked earnestly. — Zia Haider Rahman

Sometimes I intentionally cut it off. I just want to be in silence, especially when I'm traveling. I watch movies without sound. — A.R. Rahman

People Expect Something New From Me All The Time.And That's Good It Keeps Me On The Edge — A.R. Rahman

Muslim scholars have clarified that two basic conditions must be fulfilled for the acceptance of righteous deeds. Firstly, the intention must be to perform those deeds for Allah's sake alone, without any showing off or desire to gain praise or fame. Secondly, such deeds must be performed in accordance with the Sunnah of Allah's Messenger (sa) — Mohammad Rahman

In my case dust has become Gold — A.R. Rahman

While other creators make a big show of their art Mani Sir makes it look as though anyone can do what he does. — A.R. Rahman

These were the attributes and qualities on whose basis the Prophet (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wanted to build a new society, the most wonderful and the most honorable society ever known in history. On these grounds, he strove to resolve the longstanding problems, and later gave humanity the chance to breathe a sigh of relief after a long exhausting journey on dark and gloomy avenues. Such lofty morals lay at the very basis of creating a new society with integrated members who would be immune to all fluctuations of time, and powerful enough to change the whole course of humanity. — Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri

I went to London to do the stuff. I was like "What am I going to do? What's going to happen?" But then once you start working, you forget all that and you start enjoying what you're doing. Once you enjoy the process, you know that people are going to do the same thing. If you don't enjoy it and just do it like a job, then it's going to be feel that way. That's my theory of doing a movie. — A.R. Rahman

He went to America, months ago!
America!
Yes - America.
Is that east or west?
West.
People travel east, my boy - from the east you get wheat and cloth and every other good thing. What ever made our Hammad go west? Didn't anyone offer him directions? Didn't he ask anyone? — Abdul Rahman Munif

When A R Rahman won the Oscars, I had a dream of being able to congratulate him in person. This dream is now a reality thanks to Airtel digital TV. This day will forever remain truly unforgettable. — Mohammed Rafi

The Impression that Pakistan being an Islamic State is thereby a Theocratic State is being sedulously fostered in certain quarters with the sole object of discrediting her in the eyes of the world. To anyone conversant with the basic principles of Islam, it should be obvious that in the fields of civics, Islam has always stood on complete social democracy and social justice, as the history of the early Caliphs will show, and has not sanctioned government by a sacerdotal class deriving its authority from God. The ruler and the ruled alike are #equal before Islamic Law, and the ruler, far from being a vicegerent of God on earth, is but a representative of people who have chosen him to serve them ... Islam has not recognized any distinction between man and man based on sex, race or worldly possessions ...
Fazul Rahman, First Education Minister of Pakistan, All Pakistan Educational Conference, Karachi, Nov 1947 — Fazul Rahman

These are the Rad (?) instruments that are dying out in India. So, it's going well and I think now we are increasing the number of kids we have taught and of course we are helping out with other things too. It's based in India now. [The idea is to] perfect it in one place and then we'll expand. — A.R. Rahman

I didn't see it coming at all. I just wanted to have this new experience with this team of Danny Boyle, Christian (Colson) and Simon (Beaufoy). It was like an excursion for me from my normal routine and the Indian movies I do and that helped. — A.R. Rahman

If music wakes you up, makes you think, heals you ... then, I guess the music is working. — A.R. Rahman

I like to see a film and then start scoring it in my mind while doing something unrelated. You just grasp a film and start working, and something unpredictable comes out from a third element. The mind, the more active it is, the more productive it is. — A.R. Rahman

Advisers were numberless in Kabul, like stray dogs in Mumbai. — Zia Haider Rahman

Sow flowers to make a garden bloom around you,
The thorns you sow will prick your own feet.
Arrows shot at others
Will return to hit you as they fall.
You yourself will come to teeter on the lip
Of a well dug to undermine another.
Though you look at others with contempt,
It's you whose body will be reduced to dust.
Humanity is all one body;
To torture another is simply to wound yourself.
[ ... ]Make your path straight now, by the bright light of day;
For pitch darkness will come without warning. — Rahman Baba

Every time I sit for a song, I feel I am finished. It's like a beggar sitting waiting for God to fill your bowl with the right thought. In every song, I ask help from Him. Everybody around is so good, so to create music that will connect with so many people is not humanly possible without inspiration. — A.R. Rahman

I am as impressed by honesty as anyone, but when there is a hint that a man is taking me into his confidence, my first instinct is to suspect him. Am I to be flattered? And is he about to break another's confidence? — Zia Haider Rahman

This world is very good as if we do good deeds then we will get its fruits. World is bitter for those who are live their life with corruption or sins. — Rahman Baba

Then, as now, I believe that the English use language to hide what they mean. — Zia Haider Rahman

I feel blessed and humbled that people have loved my music. Nothing would be possible without their acceptance. — A.R. Rahman

So long as you do it truthfully, music is not to be judged. — A.R. Rahman

If you respect a language and culture, it shows in your work. — A.R. Rahman

Music is language itself. It should not have any barriers of caste, creed, language or anything. Music is one, only cultures are different. Music is the language of languages. It is the ultimate mother of languages. — A.R. Rahman

The definition of Ar-Rahman: The fact that we only take from Allah and He only gives; we never thank but He still gives; we rarely remember Him but He still increases in love for us. — Nouman Ali Khan

When I initially read the script, it goes inside and comes out different things even without commenting on any stuff. And then, those pieces are taken out and then spread out through the movie. — A.R. Rahman

The more you know the less you talk. — A.R. Rahman

Meritocracy is a social arrangement like any other: it is a loose set of rules that can be adapted in order to obscure advantages, all the while justifying them on the basis of collective values. pg. 199 — Shamus Rahman Khan

My greatest strength is the love for my people, my greatest weakness is that I love them too much. — Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

No regrets. There is no time for that. Regret is boring. — A.R. Rahman

Always grow flowers, as that will make your way full of flowers. Never grow thorns, as that will make your way thorny. Never want to target someone on an arrow. You may become the target of that arrow. Never make a well in the way of someone. As you may pass by that way sometime. — Rahman Baba

Is that not the Promethean fable, that the fire stolen from the gods will light men their way even while it burns their hands? — Zia Haider Rahman

How we approached this was I wanted this to be personal in a way. It's not a big, epic Hollywood score but really personal and intimate, and we thought guitar would be the perfect instrument for him because he's young and he has an undying spirit and all that stuff and we went on that feeling totally. — A.R. Rahman

The idea of music is to liberate the listener and lead him to a frame where he feels he is elevated. — A.R. Rahman

that the truth is finer and that the only answers each of us hears are to the questions we are capable of asking. — Zia Haider Rahman

People belittle or ignore or even rebel against God, because they view the
processes of nature as having self-sufficient causes, normally regarded by them as
ultimate. They do not realize that the universe is a sign pointing to something
"beyond" itself, something without which the universe, with all its natural causes,
would be and could be nothing. — Fazlur Rahman

An exile, said Zafar, is a refugee with a library. — Zia Haider Rahman

How many senators have taken their conception of what America can do from what they've seen on the American movie screen? — Zia Haider Rahman

Great men simplify great principles and make them easily intelligible to ordinary men — Tunku Abdul Rahman

I love the voice - it's the most perfect instrument ever heard. It's God given. — A.R. Rahman

In Sahih Muslim, it is recorded that 'Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah said: (There is no one among you who performs Wudu' and does it well, or -- amply --, then he says: "I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, ' but the eight gates of Paradise will be opened for him and he will enter through whichever one he wishes.) — Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman

I like music that is able to stir my soul. My music is a spiritual exercise — A.R. Rahman

If the partridge didn't call at the wrong moment, Neither the hunter nor the falcon would know of it. It follows from this point also, That everyone's voice betrays him. — Rahman Baba

We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. — Ziaur Rahman

Everything new is on the rim of our view, in the darkness, below the horizon, so that nothing new is visible but in the light of what we know. — Zia Haider Rahman

I was a common man, and I will always remain a common man. No amount of stardom will ever consume my soul. Money comes, money goes. Fame comes, fame goes. I believe every human being is a celebrity in their own right. — A.R. Rahman

For me, there is no day or night for music. I often work through the night - without phone calls disturbing me. — A.R. Rahman

The more I compose, the more I know that I don't know it all. I think it's a good way to start. If you think you know it all, the work becomes a repetition of what you've already done. I try to make sure that I don't repeat my music. — A.R. Rahman

I've been doing music for many years and after a point what is the motivation that drives you to compose and to do stuff? I did this song for the U.N., a fighting for poverty anthem. That's when I realized that I could do a foundation. And when I started the foundation, it was basically to fight poverty and to help - that kind of stuff. — A.R. Rahman

We take much for granted, much that is granted by others, and we're told to do as we're told, and we agree. And we must agree. — Zia Haider Rahman

If metaphysics enjoys the least freedom from assumed premises, man enjoys the least freedom from metaphysics in that metaphysical beliefs are the most ultimate and pervasively relevant to human attitudes; it is consciously or unconsciously the source of all values and of the meaning we attach to life itself. — Fazlur Rahman

This war will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongol massacres and the Crusades. - by Arab League Secretary General Abdul Rahman Azzam — Sol Stern

Wisdom comes from within. Knowledge is acquired and can sometimes put a screen on your wisdom. — A.R. Rahman

The search is more important than the destination — A.R. Rahman

I am happy with my Bangladesh. — Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

I have too many responsibilities and principles. There's no time for 'guilty' pleasures. — A.R. Rahman

You think people never say what they mean. The truth is, nine times out of ten what they say is all they mean. — Zia Haider Rahman

Listening is hard, as my friend once said, because you run the risk of having to change the way you see the world. — Zia Haider Rahman

In the twenty-five years that have passed since the ending of the World War when the people of this country emerged from generations of humiliation under foreign occupation, we have accomplished much to our credit, overcome many difficulties and changed the course of our history. — Tunku Abdul Rahman

I am a lover, and I deal in love. Sow flowers,
So your surroundings become a garden.
Don't sow thorns; for they will prick your feet.
We are all one body,
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself. — Rahman Baba