The Lion Women Of Tehran Quotes

When I am surrounded by books, I feel most at peace.

That's how losses of rights build. They start small. And then soon, the rights are stripped in droves.

While to our eyes, waves appear suddenly on the shore, their abruptness is an illusion. Waves begin their journey thousands of miles out at sea. They accumulate shape and power from winds and undersea currents for ages. And so, when you see the women in Iran screaming for their rights, please remember that the force and fury of our screams have been gathering power for years.

It was books. I read and read. Went to the library as much as I could. And to bookstores. Lost myself in books. Did you know that books can heal you? They helped restore me.

Lionesses. Us. Can't you just see it Ellie? Someday, you and me — we'll do great things. We'll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who will make things happen.

You skipped our country’s slide back into medieval times. Women have lost decades, no, centuries, of rights in this country.

And then. We lost touch. Our bond should have been impossible to fray and then disintegrate. But as time took us each in a different direction, it was astonishingly simple for our connection to dissolve.

Ocean waves begin their journey thousands of miles out at sea. Their form, size, and shape come from the speed of prevailing winds in the atmosphere, the power of currents hidden beneath the sea, and their “long fetch”—the distance between a wave’s point of origin and its point of arrival… Events that seem to appear in the present from out of nowhere in actuality have a long history behind them. George Lipsitz, Footsteps in the Dark Part One

But the truth is I so prefer the bravery of your generation of women. That’s what I admire. You’re not afraid. You’re fierce. You and your friends are shir zan!” The Persian phrase that translates to “lion women”.

I recently read a theory about ocean waves. This theory says that while to our eyes waves appear suddenly on the shore, their abruptness is an illusion. Waves begin their journey thousands of miles out at sea. They accumulated shape and power from winds and undersea currents for ages. And so when you see the women screaming in Iran for their rights, please remember, dear Leily, that the force and fury of our screams have been gathering power for years.

Remember above all to always love. Love madly

Blame the relief that comes when someone who’s disappeared from your life reappears and conjures up the same magic and re-creates a longed-for connection.

You know what we’ll both become when we grow up? … Shir zan. Lionesses. Us … Strong women who make things happen.

How long will she be here, in this country where no one can pronounce her name?

That’s how losses of rights build. They start small. And then soon, the rights are stripped in droves.

Let them beat me with their batons, let them bruise my body to a pulp, let them shoot and kill me. For a lifetime we have fought. We have fought and fought and fought. We want to be free. We want to be equal. We want to be able to live our lives.

And yet. Ours was a friendship worth saving. Worth keeping. Worth protecting. For I knew Homa’s heart was pure. I admired her inability to ever be fake. She was the most authentic person I knew. And I valued our friendship too much to let this recent argument stymie us.

Events that seem to appear in the present from out of nowhere in actuality have a long history behind them.

But once he walked through the door and we had dinner, once he shared with me a few details of his day, he would hold me and kiss me and take me to bed, and there in his arms with his body intertwined with mine, my every woe was lifted and momentarily I floated, I was in bliss.

And why wasn’t Homa here? Why did she care more about her Marxist meetings than about our own Persian traditions?

You and your communist activist group do nothing but create problems.

And when I pulled the onionskin paper from the envelope and unfolded it, my heart almost stopped. For there on the page was the unmistakable curlicue handwriting of my old friend, Homa.

was books. I read and read. Went to the library as much as I could. And to bookstores. Lost myself in books. Did you know that books can heal you? They helped restore me.

I wanted what Homa had. I wanted her family. Her living father, her kind mother. I wanted her fat, edible baby sister. I wanted the warmth and safety of her home.

But as time took us each in a different direction, it was astonishingly simple for our connection to dissolve.

I give this new regime six months tops,” an older woman with graying hair shouts into the crowd. “Look at us. Look at our power!” “They’re too incompetent to last!” another woman shouts. “Well, I feel we can work with this regime, I really do. As long as they don’t take away our freedom to choose what we wear and how we worship,” a young mother holding her daughter’s hand says. Bahar’s hand is in mine too. She is my star.

Like many Iranians in the diaspora, I was filled with hope and heartbreak as women and girls took to the streets after that incident because they had had enough. Enough of being controlled. Enough of being held down. Enough of having what they wore, what they said, and who they loved dictated by those who did not value their vibrancy, talents, skills, or dreams.

The eye of the Jealous can destroy happiness.

She said the words I had secretly longed to hear for years. The words I had waited all this time to hold in my cupped hands. I felt a heavy burden simply burst, what mattered was I was with Homa, what mattered was I loved my friend and would love her until the end of our days.

I hate what fate has doled out. I struggle to stay above water. But I know I cannot afford to sink entirely. For despite all the grief that drowns my soul or maybe because of it, I love her. I love her madly.

But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen.

We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen.

Shir zan. A woman with the courage of a lion.

we’re trying to uphold is that feminism comes in many shapes. We should not shame women who choose to take care of home and family.

lion women. From a line of women so strong, no one can destroy them.

People deserve to live in freedom,

Freedom has no musts.

He cannot make me into nothing. He cannot evaporate me. He cannot render me invisible. He cannot make me lose myself. I won’t let him.

To have lain my head on his shoulder, heard his advice in my ear? I conjured up a phantom of the man I wished I’d known. How I longed for him as the anchor to the evening and my life!

When my life was no longer anything, Nothing but the tick-tock of a wall clock, I discovered that I must, That I absolutely had to Love madly. Forugh Farrokhzad, The Window

Did you know that books can heal you? They helped restore me.

Sheekamoo means a person who loves to eat, whose priority is their stomach, and

Shir zan. A woman with the courage of a lion.”- Marjan Kamala, The Lion Women of Tehran

But I should have known that some friendships fracture and rupture beyond belief.

My mother always said the envy of others invites the evil eye to cast doom on us.

Even those who love you most can ruin your life, you know, Ellie,” Mother said. “Even the ones you trust the most.