Mohammad Reza was the centre of power. He differed from his father in behaviour and understanding of power. To me, Mohammad Reza was more [despotic] than his father. Reza Shah perpetrated many injustices on the people, such as usurping their lands, but compared to his son he deserved gratitude.
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Hussein Fardust (1999) The rise and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty: memoirs of former general Hussein Fardust, page 51Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
» Muhammad Reza Pahlavi - all quotes »
By no stretch of the imagination - as people who knew him closely, personally, or professionally would testify - was Mohammad Reza Shah a dictator in either the historical or contemporary sense of the word. He was not ruthless, mean-spirited, bloody, or tyrannical. A twentieth century man in the street would identify a dictator with Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Duvalier, Doe, Ceausescu. Mohammad Reza Shah resembled none of them. He may have been an autocrat in the genre of Tito and Franco, but he was not a dictator.
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
Our younger intellectuals cannot possibly understand, and thus cannot possibly judge Reza Shah. They cannot because they were too young to remember the chaotic and desperate conditions out of which he arose.
Reza Shah Pahlavi
The Queen Mother told us stories of her married life with Reza Shah. On her wedding night, her husband, then a mere brigadier was forced to ply her with brandy to calm her nerves. Even as Queen, she said, she did her best to keep out of his way.
Reza Shah Pahlavi
The elimination of force at all costs is Utopian and the new movement which has arisen in the country and of whose dawn we have given a warning is inspired by the ideals which Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji, Kamal Pasha and Reza Khan, Washington and Garibaldi, Lafayette and Lenin preached.
Bhagat Singh
We hope and believe that the best way of limiting the usurpation of power by individuals, military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge. Between fractions, between clans, plots and coups d'etats can be perpetrated. Against the people, a durable coup d'état cannot be perpetrated. Therefore, the best way of preventing the army from confiscating power for itself and for itself alone is to make this power shared by the voltaic people from the outset. That's what we are aiming for.
August 21, 1983 press conference.Thomas Sankara
Pahlavi, Muhammad Reza
Pahlavi, Reza Shah
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