Abbas Kiarostami Quotes

I have travelled all over the world and one thing that amazes me is that I can communicate with people. My story may be different but emotionally we are all the same.

Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.

What I'm trying to do is make photographs that are universally understood... that cross cultural lines. I want my photographs to be about the basic emotions and feelings that we all experience.

I feel like the one insight that's extremely comforting to me about the world is that we all share the same pool of emotion that we draw from.

Things that feel super personal actually feel really universal. It's sort of the more you really identify something specific within yourself, the more people connect to it because ultimately we are all connected in some way.

The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so empty of joy, that when I clasped their frosty finger-tips, it seemed as if I were shaking hands with a northeast storm.

A toddling little girl is a centre of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people understand each other.

I think if you follow anyone home, whether they live in Houston or London, and you sit at their dinner table and talk to them about their mother who has cancer or their child who is struggling in school, and their fears about watching their lives go by, I think we're all the same.

I've found that the common humanity of people is the most relatable thing, and even if your stories are very specific about a different place, if you have a relatable core of humanity, people will go along with it.

I feel like I'm able to relate to all races of people because when you learn to tap into the raw emotion of a person, that goes past color.

That's the power of film. If it's good, it can somehow make you feel connected to even the farthest thing from your own experience.

It's important to me to create archetypes of human experiences and make them so that the song has a sense of purpose when you experience those emotions. You know, just making people feel like they're not alone.

If I love Etta James, it's not just the voice, and it's not just the song, but it's the energy that connects me to her, so if she is strong, I can be strong, too, and if she is sad, I know I am not alone, or if she is joyous, I can connect with that joy.

I always think if you speak to someone in their second language, you speak to their head. If you speak in their first, you speak to their heart. I've always tried to let players see that.

I think we all suffer the same pain, all feel the same happiness, and we all have the same emotions within us.

Something like a 'Maheshinte Prathikaram' will work anywhere in the world because it speaks of something that is beyond language.

Humanity has this need to hear stories because they connect us with other people, they teach us about our own feelings. We feel less lonely when we see other people going through the same things, even if they're fictional characters.

Emotions are raised in us, not only by the qualities and actions of others, but also by their feelings. I cannot behold a man in distress, without partaking of his pain; nor in joy, without partaking of his pleasure.

Music can be the bridge to understanding, but people have to get some knowledge.

When I started to realise how important the film was to people I thought there is a lot of negative stuff going on in the world, maybe they need these two people

The more you join with people in their joys and their sorrows, the more nearer and dearer they come to be to you.

Are people drawn to each other because of the stories they carry inside?

Most people love animals, and most people love to laugh. Combining the two makes both resonate deeper.

You don't have to treat people differently. You may be living a different lifestyle, but the person living that different lifestyle still can relate to anybody and have the same amazing personality of the guy from North Philly.

When people have points of reference that are humanizing, that demystifies difference.