* They studied our spiritual nature, our various tribes and whatever we appealed to. Based on their investigations, they found out that if religion is prevalent among the people and they are under one banner, they cannot be overcome and their treasury cannot be plundered. Therefore, in order to dominate them they tried to weaken religion and propagated that the basis of religion was something that the powers had concocted, saying that religion was the opium of the masses! The basis of religions is the opium of the society.
Sahifeh, vol6, Page: 81
* We have never had freedom for fifty years. All of you know that when Rida Shah came to power and … we had never had freedom; it was just recently that we have acquired it. Neither was there a free press, nor did we have an independent judiciary or a lawyers' guild. They had encroached on everything. Neither was there one single decent university, nor could they properly educate the youth whom they had detained in backwardness. The growth of our culture was reversed and our offspring pushed (culturally) backward… they created centers of prostitution nationwide... They dragged the youth into these places and decimated human resources.
Sahifeh, vol6, Page: 83
* Approximately three hundred years ago, foreign policies were implemented in Iran and the East… Their experts made a study of individuals and tribes, and observed the people's morale. They delved into their material concerns from every angle and tried to take advantages of them in two ways: material benefits, which they have already done, and spiritual ones in which they have exacerbated these differences and distanced us further from each other.
Sahifeh, vol6, Page: 86