Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Quotes

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• I want the standard of living in Iran in ten years' time to be exactly on a level with that in Europe today. In twenty years' time we shall be ahead of the United States.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Iran, Years, Europe

  "Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah". Book by Marvin Zonis, p. 65, 1991.

  51 Copy quote

• To be first in the Middle East is not enough. We must raise ourselves to the level of a great world power.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Middle East, World, Levels

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 360, 1991.

  40 Copy quote

• Growing terrorism, permissive societies, democracy collapsing through lack of law and order. If things continue on their present track, the disintegration of Western societies will occur much sooner than you think under the hammer blows of fascism and communism. Freedom is not something that does not have a breaking point, and your enemies would like you to reach that point.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Thinking, Blow, Order

  "Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President". Book by Jimmy Carter, p. 444, 1995.

  38 Copy quote

• The Saudis have never shown any respect for human rights, either now or in the past. Even a petty burglar faces having one of his hands chopped off. The liberal press in America prefers to ignore all this, although they don't hesitate to blacken the reputation of Iran.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Past, America, Rights

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 535, 1991.

  48 Copy quote

• My main mistake was to have made an ancient people advance by forced marches toward independence, health, culture, affluence, comfort.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Mistake, People, Independence

  43 Copy quote

• Let the dog bark; the moon shall beam on.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Dog, Moon, Bark

  "The Life and Times of the Shah". Book by Gholam Reza Afkhami, p. 261, 2009.

  39 Copy quote

• O Cyrus , great King, King of Kings, Achaemenian King, King of the land of Iran. I, the Shahanshah of Iran, offer thee salutations from myself and from my nation. Rest in peace, for we are awake, and we will always stay awake.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Rest In Peace, Kings, Iran

  Opening speech during the 2500th anniversary of Cyrus' founding of the Persian Empire, October 12, 1971.

  14 Copy quote

• Nixon would like to consign us to to the level of the most backward countries in the whole Middle East. Why lower us to the standard of the Saudis rather than raising the Saudis to meet us?

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, Middle East, Levels

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 281, 1991.

  9 Copy quote

• Soviet propaganda is remarkably effective and the Americans are even more remarkably stupid.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Stupid, Soviet Propaganda, Propaganda

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 508, 1991.

  1 Copy quote

• Who on earth do the Americans suppose their allies are amongst the Arab world? Even Saudi Arabia they seem to regard as nothing more than a resevoir of oil and money.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Oil, Allies, Arabia

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 474, 1991.

  4 Copy quote

• Nixon has the audacity to tell me to do nothing in the interest of my country until he dictactes where that interest lies. At the same time he threatens me that failure to follow his so-called advice will be to jeopardize the special relations between our two countries. I say to hell with such special relations.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, Lying, Two

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 278, 1991.

  36 Copy quote

• The Jewish press in the USA is solely responsible for our poor publicity.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Usa, Publicity, Poor

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 427, 1991.

  4 Copy quote

• You approach the Mullahs as if they are normal people. They are not. You see them in your own image; you should not.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  People, Normal, Should

  "The Life and Times of the Shah". Book by Gholam Reza Afkhami, p. 591, 2009.

  38 Copy quote

• How can you hope to build up a nation by fragmenting its politics into opposing camps? Whatever one group builds, the other will endeavour to destroy.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Groups, Endeavour, Camps

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 552, 1991.

  4 Copy quote

• A crown, a throne could not be based on the not too very solid foundation of blood.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Blood, Foundation, Thrones

  "The Shah Speaks". Interview with David Frost, January 1980.

  13 Copy quote

• As far as we are concerned, we are not the toys of any country, including the United States.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, United States, Toys

  Said at the "Meet the Press" program in July 1973. "His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Shahanshah, Aryamehr: an operational code". Book by William W. Sitz, archive.org. 1975.

  10 Copy quote

• My advisers built a wall between myself and my people. I didn't realize what was happening. When I woke up, I had lost my people.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Wall, People, Realizing

  22 Copy quote

• The great powers claim that whatever they possess is theirs by right, but whatever we, the smaller countries possess is negotiable.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, Claims, Great Power

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 262, 1991.

  8 Copy quote

• Muslim brothers be damned; they're our greatest enemies. You know yourself that I'm a Muslim, even a fanatical Muslim. But that does nothing to alter my opinion of the Arabs.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Brother, Enemy, Doe

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 330, 1991.

  28 Copy quote

• Nobody can influence me, nobody. Still less a woman. Women are important in a man's life only if they're beautiful and charming and keep their femininity.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Beautiful, Men, Important

  "The Mystically Divine Shah of Iran". Interview with Oriana Fallaci, Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1973.

  18 Copy quote

• Thank God we in Iran have neither the desire nor the need to suffer from democracy.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Iran, Suffering, Democracy

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 233, 1991.

  30 Copy quote

• I am convinced that the majority of the religious hierarchy today deplores the hardship inflicted on our people. I am referring not only to the martyrs but of the families who have been dispersed and terrified, who have no resources, and to the four million unemployed who are suffering from the economic chaos of a country which only a year earlier was giving employment to a million foreigners. Those who have chosen to serve God must feel profoundly sad at seeing ridicule poured on the most sacred principles of our religion.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, Religious, Years

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (Shah of Iran) (1980). “The Shah's story”, Michael Joseph

  26 Copy quote

• This criticism is ridiculous. The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebration cost me less than the inauguration of each new president of the United States.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Criticism, President, Twenties

  "The Imperial Shah: An Informal Biography". Book by Gérard de Villiers, p. 284, 1975.

  5 Copy quote

• Pride comes before a fall - although in [Henry Kissinger's] case it's more conceit than pride.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Fall, Pride, Henry Kissinger

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 391, 1991.

  3 Copy quote

• For all its apparent tolerance, the USA maintains a peculiar balance between the forces of capitalism and democracy. To achieve this I feel sure the country is guided by some hidden force; an organization working in secrecy, powerful enough to dispose of the Kennedys and of anyone else who gets in its way.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Country, Powerful, Usa

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 169, 1991.

  16 Copy quote

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