"Rica and I are perhaps the first Persians whom the appetite for learning has prompted to leave the land of their birth, and forsake the charms of a peaceful life in favor of the arduous quest for wisdom" (Letter 1, pg. 41.)

"You are the subject of every conversation in Ispahan; people talk of nothing but your departure: there are those who attribute it to frivolity, others to some sorrow; only your friends defend you but no one believes them; no one can understand how you could leave your wives, your parents, your friends, your homeland, to travel into lands unknown to Persians" (Letter 5, pg. 45.)

"I went to the king; I told him of my desire to instruct myself in the sciences of the West; I insinuated that my travels could be advantageous to him; my request found favour in his eyes; I departed, and deprived my enemies of a...