Pico Iyer Quotes

The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.

After all, I think Jerusalem is part of the, of the world's heritage.

I feel most strongly about Jerusalem, because architects ultimately have to address that city.

The grandeur of Jerusalem is also... its problem.

Our eternal capital Jerusalem was and remains our top national priority.

Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of eternity.

I look at Jerusalem as being a beacon for the three monotheistic religions.

We all came to see that site. We all walked around it. It is already sacred.

I have mixed feelings about Jerusalem. It is fascinating, it is beautiful, it is tragic, and it is extremely attractive to all kinds of fanatics or redeemers, world reformers, self-appointed prophets or messiahs. I find this fascinating, but I don't think I would like to live in the middle of this. I need my distance.

The Taj Mahal can be a tourist attraction, an architectural marvel, but it can never be treated as a monument of faith. After all, there is a difference between tourism and faith.

I love the Middle East. My earliest childhood memories are of Jerusalem. I love the colors and smells and cadence of Arabic spoken in the streets of Cairo or Beirut. I also love the modernity and verve of Tel Aviv.

For me, going to Minneapolis is like going to Mecca.

The Old City of Jerusalem is in our hands.

The capital of Israel is Jerusalem, no matter what.

I traveled with then-Senator Obama to Israel in 2008. I will never forget our time in the holy city of Jerusalem and following behind him as he approached the Western Wall - and even in the dark hours of that very early morning, it was a place bustling with energy afforded by one's faith.

I want to live in a country that is not just a place but also an idea, and Jerusalem is the heart of the idea. There may be practical considerations, but a country cannot exist without an ethos, and Jerusalem is an ethos.

In the Jewish tradition, there is at the same time Jerusalem in the heavens and Jerusalem on the ground. Jerusalem is a living city, but also the heart, the soul of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

Arik is suffused with a mystical belief about Jerusalem.

I lived in Jerusalem with the Temple Mount as my holy site. My Palestinian neighbors lived in Al-Quds with the Haram al-Sharif.

Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and the modern presence there just cements this.

Jerusalem is ... the fabled city which for the Western mind is as much dream as stone ... a compressed symbol of our most sublime aspirations along with our most disgusting, hatefully brainless excursions into religious bigotry and fratricide.

Jerusalem has been our capital for 3,000 years and it's going to be our capital for eternity

The Jewish connection to Jerusalem is an ancient and powerful one. Judaism made Jerusalem a holy city over three thousand years ago and through all that time Jews remained steadfast to it.

No city in the world, not even Athens or Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.

Writing about Jerusalem was very stressful; every word counts.