I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Pittsburgh. I've never been to Iran, I don't speak the language, and, probably most important of all, my Iranian father left home when I was nine months old. That's the extent of my connection to Iran.
Said Sayrafiezadeh
Related I have to expend an awful lot of energy actively undoing the impact of my name. Understandably, peop... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH My mum left my dad when I was six months old, so I don't know him at all. I had no male figures ... CATHERINE TATE I was born and raised Catholic, so it's in my blood. I don't go to church... I was born and ... TOM ARAYA I was born with my moustache and, no, I've never been tempted to shave it off. I don't spend... ROBERT WINSTON My father is Cuban. Spanish was my first language, but I don't speak it that much anymore becaus... BELLA THORNE I'd never put all my chips anywhere, because I don't want to close any doors, but I was rais... KATEE SACKHOFF I don't drink coffee. I've never had a cup of coffee in my entire life. That's something... STEVEN SPIELBERG I get most of my inspiration from older records. Most of the records that I listen to were probably ... M. WARD You know, my parents had a restaurant. And I left home, actually, in 1949, when I was 13 years old, ... JACQUES PEPIN I was born and raised in Manhattan; I didn't realize that I, in all my androgyny, was a freak to... IO TILLETT WRIGHT I was born in Fayette County, over in Lexington, Kentucky, but I was raised most of my life in Paint... CHRIS STAPLETON My sister married an American and took his name, and my brother has shortened Sayrafiezadeh to Sayra... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I was raised on a ranch in Wyoming, and I've been riding horses most of my life. LARRY WILCOX I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to... ALAN HOVHANESS When I was nine years old, living on the south side of Chicago, my father was a minister and my moth... MR. T The Republicans are whistling past the graveyard. If we don't change our policies on immigration... ANN COULTER Travel is one of the best anti-war weapons that there are. I've been to Iran, and if you're ... VIGGO MORTENSEN When I was in the ring at the Olympics, it was my father's words that I was hearing, not the coa... FLOYD MAYWEATHER, JR. My father's from Australia and my mother was born in India, but she's actually Tibetan. I wa... DICHEN LACHMAN I know that my cell phone in Iran... is bugged, and they listen in, and my emails, I'm sure, are... HOOMAN MAJD I was 20 when my daughter was born, and making all these plans during my wife's pregnancy. I was... KIEFER SUTHERLAND Am I not correct in saying that Iran has never voiced that they are developing a nuclear weapon, nor... GARY JOHNSON When I was younger, I was a bit of a feisty fighter type of guy. That's something my father told... NATE ROBINSON The dove act? I'm still working on it. I don't think it's perfect yet. I got my first pa... LANCE BURTON I've got 50,000 Facebook fans inside of Iran, and Facebook is banned in Iran. I think the people... BRANDON STANTON I said I didn't want to spend most of my life in Holidays Inns, but I've checked and they... WALTER F. MONDALE I don't know how old I was when I started writing books. But, I was born in 1931, and I wrote my... ED EMBERLEY I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her be... QUINCY JONES I've only ever chosen men who happen to spend a lot of time out of the country, who have jobs th... PATSY KENSIT I was brought up by my mum and my sister. I've always been around independent women; I like that... AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON Are you taking us to the beach?" - Dan Cahill JUDE WATSON I'm not an immigrant - I was born and raised in New York. My parents are Puerto Rican, and Puert... ELIZABETH RODRIGUEZ When I first left Iran at the age of 13, Iran had become such a shining star - it was the point to w... AZAR NAFISI When I was young, my brother David and I were farmed off to foster homes, and I spent time in orphan... WAYNE DYER My father and I are friends and my mother and I don't speak. It's a bummer. I miss her. JENNIFER ANISTON My grandmother, she's been the positive portion of my life the entire time. She raised us Baptis... CURTIS JACKSON I've been in a gym probably nine days of my life. TEA LEONI I grew up in a funeral home, born and raised, and everyone was always like, 'Well, what was that... TAMARA TUNIE I was born in South Bend, and I've been a Hoosier all my life. JACKIE WALORSKI My life! That's a long story, too. I was born in Brooklyn, New York, like half of the world, I t... ERIK LARSON When I first started acting I was about nine years old. I had never been to audition in my life and ... ALEXANDER LUDWIG When I was six years old, my parents told me that we were moving back home to Armenia. I didn't ... HENRIKH MKHITARYAN One of the accidental joys of my writing life has been that I've had some lovely, surprisingly g... ANDRE DUBUS III As long as I'm learning every day of my life, I will never feel old. Never. And I don't feel... PAT MITCHELL I've been a Cub all my life. I came up here when I was 20 years old and spent my whole career he... RON SANTO I'm Muhammad Ali's daughter, but my father and I are very different in that area. I don'... LAILA ALI People don't understand that when I grew up, I was never the most talented. I was never the bigg... TIGER WOODS My father left when I was really young, but he's still living. There are things I wish I'd s... SARAH SHAHI I genuinely don't feel that anything that's been written or said about me has overshadowed m... NORAH JONES I was raised by my father; I was daddy's girl. AMBER HEARD Working across the aisle, I helped pass laws exposing business dealings in Iran, cracking down on Ir... TED DEUTCH New York's my home. Born and raised. I'm a New Yorker to the bone. VANESSA FERLITO I learned Spanish at home and, since half my family doesn't speak English, it's my first lan... ODETTE ANNABLE I've never been overwhelmed with a desire to become famous. It's not that I didn't want ... SAUL LEITER I don't regret what I've been through. I've had ups and downs, super highs and some real... JENNIFER LOPEZ As a father, I always want my son to be perfect. When he was young, I tried to train him in martial ... JACKIE CHAN It looks ancient," - Amy Cahill JUDE WATSON I wasn't even born when dad swam in the Olympics. I've seen videos of some of his swims, alt... AIMEE WILLMOTT I don't like the idea of 'I've played nine years, I've made some All-Star teams, I m... MATT HOLLIDAY I was born in Manhattan, raised in Queens, went to high school and college in Brooklyn. My father wa... PETER T. KING I realized how Latina I was, and then also, at the same time, how not Latina enough I was, because I... AMERICA FERRERA Almost everything else I have done during my adult years has been affected to some extent by my name... JOHN EISENHOWER Education was the most important value in our home when I was growing up. People don't always re... CAROLINE KENNEDY I've lived in New York for thirty years now, but I'm a proud Pittsburgher, and home is home.... TAMARA TUNIE I, of course, was born as if I was a movie star in my head. Even though I had nothing, in my head I ... KARAN JOHAR You don't help people in your poems. I've been trying to help people all my life - that'... CHARLES OLSON I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a ... JOHN LE CARRE I called my mother up and I said, 'You know, I've been to the best doctors in the world and ... DARRELL HAMMOND My life has always been with my dad. Since I can remember, I was raised by my father my entire life.... APOLO OHNO There's no reason we can't all live harmoniously together, and that's what I would say t... CHUCK NORRIS When I was nine years old, my family lost our home, and the six of us moved into my grandparents'... BECKY G I don't think my father was a bad man, all in all. ANTHONY HOROWITZ I don't look in the mirror; don't like what I see; never have. I am not my idea of a beauty.... LAUREN BACALL My parents said that I was nine months old and would throw myself out of the crib onto the floor con... JOHNNY KNOXVILLE I'm 23 years old. I might just be my mother's child, but in all reality, I'm everybody... TUPAC SHAKUR I ran through most of college and ran through most of grad school. When I was writing my dissertatio... JANE MCGONIGAL If it's old school friends that my parents know, then I can stay out till late. But if they don&... TENA DESAE I've never been able to relate to many people. I've always been the outcast child. I don'... NEON HITCH I'm a born-again Christian. I was raised Episcopalian - I've always been of a Christian fait... NATALIE COLE My father died five days before I returned to New York. He was only fifty-three years old. My parent... BEVERLY SILLS What I wrote all the time when I was a kid - I don't want to call it 'poetry,' because i... CARRIE FISHER My mom passed down to me her old Levi's denim jacket. When I left it on a plane, I was devastate... LILY JAMES I've never stopped being Argentine, and I've never wanted to. I feel very proud of being Arg... LIONEL MESSI Big stuff and little: learning how to order breakfast in a country where I don't speak the langu... ANTHONY BOURDAIN Bottom line is, I didn't return to Apple to make a fortune. I've been very lucky in my life ... STEVE JOBS I started off when I was seven years old doing musicals. I was in 'Les Miserables' and '... ALICIA VIKANDER I was definitely a tomboy. My mother liked to dress me differently, but it was her loss when I came ... TROIAN BELLISARIO When I was nine, my father said 'You can take piano lessons or do karate' - I had a black be... ELODIE YUNG I don't know if I have a favorite color. KATE MIDDLETON It's very special having a new little girl. KATE MIDDLETON I have been alone since my husband died. I stay in my home. I don't date. It's hard to date ... ANNA NICOLE SMITH Ireland is such an amazing country, and I have this little dream in the back of my head that someday... ANNE HATHAWAY I'm a first - I was the first person in my family born in the United States. My mom is from Croa... OTTESSA MOSHFEGH I don't think I've ever seen him in a movie theater! I've only seen him on TV. Wow, that... JENNIFER GRANT I used to not be confident. My father certainly didn't add to my confidence. When I was 17 or 18... JOAN COLLINS If I categorized home runs that I've seen, without a doubt the monumental one is Henry's... ... VIN SCULLY I like sports. I'm a big football fan. When I was a kid, I was a... I don't even know how to... BRIAN DENNEHY I'm still learning my craft, and I've been writing since I was nine. KAGE BAKER When I was 16, I was in Boston and some friends said, 'You want to go to New York?,' I went ... STANA KATIC Hebrew is my first language, so it's really the most personal and the most simple. When I write ... YAEL NAIM
More Said Sayrafiezadeh
I work in the most non-Communist job. I work for 'Martha Stewart Living.' SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I need to feel as if everything is clean and in its proper place before I can even attempt to write ... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I wake when my wife wakes, at 7:30 A.M. I'd like to sleep longer, but she has to go off to work,... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH There's always been something a little pathetic for me at the work parties I've attended, es... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH The year the bus drivers went on strike in Pittsburgh, I was twenty-three and living on the edge of ... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH My childhood was defined by my father's absence. His presence looms so large. Up until the age o... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I feel more Jewish than I do Iranian. SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH There was something so immensely redemptive and exciting for me to imagine that my unknown father wa... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I suppose my Iranian identity is one of the driving forces for being a writer: I want to set the rec... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I have to expend an awful lot of energy actively undoing the impact of my name. Understandably, peop... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH It's very difficult for me to look at politics with clear eyes. I'll read a story in the pap... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I am haunted by what my life would have been had I not had the courage in my early twenties to leave... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH Stasis is something that has marked my life since I was a boy growing up in Pittsburgh with my mothe... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I have no personal experience in the military. All I know about it is what I've seen in movies a... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH While writing my memoir, 'When Skateboards Will Be Free,' I would sometimes have to pore ove... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH We were poor, my mother and I, living in a world of doom and gloom, pessimism and bitterness, where ... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH The difference between our family and other poor families was that my mother actively chose to be po... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH I take pride in taking care of all the housework so that my wife, who works as a designer for Martha... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH More people work at Walmart than anywhere else in the United States, but you wouldn't know that ... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH My characters are not underachievers; they aspire to great things, but they are limited by the world... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH Other families who are poor do what they can to get out of it. My mother did not. She did not utilis... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH In many ways I'm similar to Barack Obama, who also has a strange name but was raised by a white ... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH The daily quota I've set for myself is 500 words or approximately a page and a half double-space... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH My sister married an American and took his name, and my brother has shortened Sayrafiezadeh to Sayra... SAID SAYRAFIEZADEH If you can visualize the whole of spring and see Paradise with the eye of belief, you may understand... SAID NURSI At the resurrection, there will be the return of spirits to their bodies, the revivification of the ... SAID NURSI Practice the brotherhood, love, and cooperation insistently enjoined by hundreds of Qur'anic ver... SAID NURSI In spring, the dead trees, roots, and animals come to life again exactly as they were, thus providin... SAID NURSI The purest joy for the human spirit and the sheerest delight for man's heart are the rapture of ... SAID NURSI There has been no persecution I have not tasted, no oppression I have not suffered. I neither care f... SAID NURSI The signs, proofs, and evidences of Divine unity are incalculable. SAID NURSI Sin penetrates to the heart, darkens and hardens it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Each ... SAID NURSI Creation's highest aim and most sublime result is belief in God. The most exalted rank of humani... SAID NURSI The transparency of a metaphor displays the glint of truth. But if a metaphor is taken for a reality... SAID NURSI The mirror to the beautiful is beautiful. SAID NURSI Time has shown that Paradise is not cheap, and neither is Hell unnecessary. SAID NURSI The truth cannot be deceptive, and one who sees it cannot be deceived. SAID NURSI All true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and unclouded pleasure are contained within the knowle... SAID NURSI A thing's innate disposition or God-given nature does not lie; whatever this innate disposition ... SAID NURSI Establish with all of your powers a union with your fellows and brothers in religion that is stronge... SAID NURSI The All-Wise Maker attaches hundreds of instances of wisdom to each of the beings in the palace of t... SAID NURSI What agent is there other than the Creator of the heavens and earth who can know whatever occurs in ... SAID NURSI The magnificent cosmos is a palace that has the sun and the moon as its lamps and the stars as its c... SAID NURSI All true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and untroubled pleasure lie in knowledge of God and lo... SAID NURSI Belize pledges it continued support to the aspirations of the 23 million people of Taiwan to be full... SAID MUSA Let us work toward greater cooperation with all Caribbean Countries, whether we speak English, Dutch... SAID MUSA We have much work ahead, to stand still. SAID MUSA Our Government is committed to pursuing policies and programs which facilitate a further lowering of... SAID MUSA Independence did not mean chauvinism and narrow nationalism. SAID MUSA None can be more negative in its impact than the limitation on human resource capacity. SAID MUSA The Qur'an, throughout all of its verses, aims mainly to establish and confirm four basic, unive... SAID NURSI When I was ten years old, I had great pride in myself, which sometimes even took the form of boastin... SAID NURSI كلما ازداد تعدي أوروبا على الشرق في القرن التاسع عشر از... EDWARD SAID You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there h... EDWARD SAID Since the 1960s, we have seen the failure of the melting pot ideology. This ideology suggested that ... EDWARD SAID In Divine unity and the affirmation of it, Divine beauty and dominical perfection become apparent. I... SAID NURSI Belief is not restricted to a brief affirmation based on imitation; rather, it has degrees and stage... SAID NURSI I have been unable to live an uncommitted or suspended life. I have not hesitated to declare my affi... EDWARD SAID Do not suffer pain and torment without reason. Somebody All-Powerful and All-Compassionate owns ever... SAID NURSI The raising to life of all animate beings at the resurrection of the dead can be no more difficult f... SAID NURSI Nature is a divine art; it cannot be the artist. It is a dominical book and cannot be the scribe. It... SAID NURSI Belief is so valuable and living that it infuses with life everything it enters! It transforms the f... SAID NURSI Despite the variety and the differences, and however much we proclaim the contrary, what the media p... EDWARD SAID The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the cr... SAID NURSI Attributing to anything or anyone more good than God has attributed to them is not a positive move, ... SAID NURSI Tahir Pasha assigned me a room when I was staying in his residence, and every night before sleeping,... SAID NURSI I can bear my own sorrows, but the sorrows arising from the calamities visiting Islam and Muslims ha... SAID NURSI The origin of all revolutions and corruption, and the spur and source of all base morals are just tw... SAID NURSI People who do not recognize their Owner and discover their Master are miserable and bewildered. But ... SAID NURSI I wanted to send the car back to North Carolina intact and we did that, ... I finished 30th, which i... BORIS SAID I'm going to give myself a B-minus. In practice and qualifying I thought I made a lot of progress. B... BORIS SAID I had great restarts all day, but Tony got me and I got bogged down. BORIS SAID It would have been nice to finish second to Tony Stewart . He's the best right now. What he's doing ... BORIS SAID Each time I get into one of these cars I feel more at ease and the tension drops a few notches. BORIS SAID Each time I get into one of these cars I feel more at ease and the tension drops a few notches, BORIS SAID In our little group, the good guys are really good. We want to win. I'm going to bring my best. My n... BORIS SAID Lap times are a little slower. But it seems a lot faster with the curbs cut down. You'll still be ab... BORIS SAID I like the races when we practice and qualify on the same day. I'm not only in a routine, but more i... BORIS SAID Qualifying is first and foremost, ... Once we can achieve that initial goal, the next objective for ... BORIS SAID The beauty of man's being, fashioned as he is in the fairest of forms, demonstrates the existenc... SAID NURSI It is clear that the camps are targets of the occupation forces. SAID SIAM The Giver of Existence is Eternally Existent; there is no harm, therefore, in the passing of beings,... SAID NURSI Every one has a defects, so we accept in our life the one who "can" be identified with his advantage... AHMED SAID life is a short period, enjoy it or die quickly. AHMED SAID when we discover that we have the ability to advice the others we have to have also the ability to r... AHMED SAID exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift f... EDWARD SAID We are not savages, we are not barbarians. SAID JAZERI GonziPN is infested with diehards and egocentrics and it seems intent to embrace cant and not to dec... JO SAID The life of the hereafter is the outcome of all this world. SAID NURSI All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge,... EDWARD SAID Be certain of this: that the highest aim of creation and its most important result are belief in God... SAID NURSI Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an impe... EDWARD SAID Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a ... EDWARD SAID Until the June 1967 war I was completely caught up in the life of a young professor of English. Begi... EDWARD SAID It is part of morality not to be at home in one's home. EDWARD SAID then you're corrupting the whole system. EDWARD SAID It's really a clash between two egos. SALIM SAID There are Palestinians who see (Sharon) as someone who did a lot of practical harm to the Palestinia... NADER SAID Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Belize and the Republic of China in 1989, Ta... SAID MUSA I don't remember when exactly I read my first comic book, but I do remember exactly how liberated an... EDWARD SAID We need to beat that finishing result, ... Last year, I just wanted to finish the race with all of t... BORIS SAID Until this year, I only competed in three oval point races in the Cup series, ... Racing is all abou... BORIS SAID Outside of Lowe's Motor Speedway (in Charlotte), we've qualified at all of the events, ... I am feel... BORIS SAID I am very thankful about this opportunity, but I have really missed being part of the action since W... BORIS SAID It's Racism at the Bottom EDWARD SAID As individual countries, our impacts are minimal, but as a coordinated group of countries, we can ac... SAID MUSA human societies, at least the more advanced cultures, have rarely offered the individual anything bu... EDWARD SAID Think-ability and Animality are the mix to humanity,
Control your Animality and use your Think-abili... AHMED SAID When you become a public figure, you still think, 'That's really not me; there's more to... EDWARD SAID Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman... EDWARD SAID No one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are not more ... EDWARD SAID The divine wisdom which requires a division of labor has sown different abilities and tendencies in ... SAID NURSI Belief contains so many truths pertaining to God's Names and the realities contained in the univ... SAID NURSI Some sciences need mutual support and assistance to develop. The majority of these are physical scie... SAID NURSI It will not take a modern Victorian specialist long to admit that liberal cultural heroes like John ... EDWARD SAID If you look at the Qur'an with the eyes of a sound heart, you will see that its six aspects are ... SAID NURSI songkok dan kopiah keduanya dimurkai Allah jika gagal menjalankan perintah song... SALMIE SAID I was one of the first people in the Palestinian world, in the late 1970s, to say that there is no m... EDWARD SAID The inner me was always under attack by authority, by the way my parents wanted me to be brought up,... EDWARD SAID I don't myself believe in a two-state solution. I believe in a one-state solution. EDWARD SAID My Lord, I couldn't remember the facts at that time. If you start asking questions on the wrong fact... MOHAMED SAID niggas ain't shit. LIBIN SAID Do what you do only for God's sake, start for God's sake, work for God's sake, and act within the sp... BEDIüZZAMAN SAID NURSî Worry is itself an illness, since worry is an accusation against Divine Wisdom, a criticism of Divin... BEDIüZZAMAN SAID NURSî Zambia has been very generous in hosting refugees for years. It is now up to the international commu... AHMED SAID FARAH There will be increased morbidity, mortality and stunted growth. Social problems, such as prostituti... AHMED SAID FARAH I don't know their (militants) capabilities but we're not leaving anything to chance. The assurance ... MAJ. SAID HAMMED We deceive ourselves if we believe we can hold on to old models as ideologies whimper off to a shall... SAID ELIAS DAWLABANI Jika ingin menjadi seorang penulis pertama sekali kena membaca, kedua kena membaca, ketiga, membaca,... A. SAMAD SAID Nothing in my view is more reprehensible than those habits of mind in the intellectual that induce a... EDWARD W. SAID Leaders in business and government, who fail to see the holistic interdependence of our planet, are ... SAID ELIAS DAWLABANI Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle o... EDWARD W. SAID Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its miss... EDWARD W. SAID His [Chancellor Michael Harris IUK] "a viking with a heart of a mother" (originally said about Shack... GREGORY STEEL (ORIGINALY SAID ABOUT SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON)