Jews From The United Kingdom

"His collection is certainly the best in private hands"

"I highly value the efforts of Professor Nasser Khalili and what he has done to promote this valuable cultural heritage, to care for it and to preserve it, and to present it to current and future generations so that all who see it will learn about the brilliance of the notable and deeply-rooted Islamic civilization."

"David is passionate about the cause of peace and has made a remarkable contribution to improving dialogue, understanding and respect between those of different faiths. I have discussed these issues with David many times over the years and it is his dedication to the cause ad his rational and compassionate thinking that has always been apparent."

"Like most great philanthropists, he is passionate but there is a certain timeless wisdom about him too."

"Rencontre avec le plus grand collectionneur du monde, Nasser David Khalili, collectionneur de légende” (Meeting with the Greatest Collector in the world – Nasser D Khalili, legendary collector)"

"We salute you Prof. Khalili, for enabling us to stage this unique exhibition"

"…A landmark in the study of nineteenth century Spanish decorative art."

"At that time we could not have guessed the existence of Professor Khalili’s collection… a feat which could not possibly be duplicated or even approached by any museum in the world today…"

"My Dear David, what can I say - here stands a Galileo. I have known you for many years when the late holy father Pope John Paul II of blessed memory created you a knight of St. Sylvester. I said of you at that time, if you remember, that you had in one person the great wisdom of 3 religious leaders, a Chief Rabbi, a Cardinal and a Grand Mufti. This is true then and it's true today."

"Professor Khalili’s contribution to the world of art and culture is unparalleled, and for him to be called the Medici of the 21st century is no exaggeration."

"The main reason for the exhibition of Wonders of Imperial Japan at the Van Gogh Museum was its connection to Van Gogh's painting. It was Van Gogh who said I his letter to his brother Theo in 1888 "In a way all my work is founded on Japanese art""

"Today I am speechless and proud to be Japanese"

"…the appreciation of all the Zuloaga descendants [goes] to Prof Khalili… for this superb collection of damascene art, and… for having given the world the opportunity to admire the works, not only of the Zuloagas, but of all the Basque artisans like them."

"Nasser D. Khalili lives, thinks and breathes art. For him life and art are noble and inseparable. Nobody believes more in the healing power of art and the lessons we can learn from it."

"My very, very first purchase was when I was about 12 or 13. My father used to take me wherever he went buying or selling anything from the age of eight, because amongst my other sisters and brothers I was the only one who showed interest. We bought ordinary things like Persian lacquer to start with. Many years later I did my PhD on Persian lacquer"

"I'm delighted to have every single object that we have, because every one of them is part of that picture. I know each one of them - where I bought it, whom I bought it from, how much I paid for it. That is why I was able to put together what I have put together. If somebody walked in with something, I always immediately knew whether I had a space for it, or whether I have a similar one, or a better one. Often I have made the decision whether to buy or not in less than 50 seconds."

"Our collection presents the totality of Islamic art, the way it should be presented, from China to North Africa. I didn't want to collect only things that were made for kings and queens because that's the wrong way to present any culture. You have to represent the objects that were used in everyday life, in ordinary homes."

"During the collecting, I don't say anything. When it's done, then I speak."

"Every object has its note and the combination of them all makes the music. There is not much point just having the lead violin and the piano."

"There are 1.6bn people following the faith of Islam. I realised that no one was representing the core and anchor of that religion, and so I took it upon myself to buy everything that was available"

"Giving exhibitions is like throwing a drop into an ocean. Any contribution to the enhancement of the understanding of Islamic culture adds to that ocean, which I call the ocean of understanding. The greatest and one of the strongest bridges between cultures is the one that is built out of art. Religion and politics have their own dialects. The language of art is universal. There you are safe. Nobody can label you."

"I used to buy a group of objects -- let's say, 10 objects for $US100,000 -- keep 3 or 4 of the best aside and sell the rest for $US250,000. I used my knowledge to create money to finance my dream.""

"Ownership is nothing but a myth, we are only a temporary custodian of what we believe we own"

"I think I was utterly blessed to realise that there were a lot of sleeping giants out there all I did is to find them, nurse them and bring them to the attention of the world."

"Finally, money is just paper. My loyalty is to the objects; to be hnoest, I really don't care about the financial side of it too much. People forget that whenever you are faced with a masterpiece, the day you pay for it it may be a bit expensive, but if you wait one month, two months, six months, then it becomes terribly cheap."

"At this stage of my life with the permission of my family I came up with a sort of square rules of what I want to do from here onwards, the rules are very simple I said that I have to look after myself, I have to look after my family, I have to look after my friends and I have to do my charities in this order."

"The Khalili collection of Meiji art of Japan is only comparable as acknowledged by many scholars and museum directors, in terms of quality and size to the collection of the Japanese Imperial family"

"Art is a universal language that can unite the hearts of mankind, crossing all frontiers, penetrating everywhere. The moment has come for the 'people of the book' - Jews, Christians, Muslims - to speak openly to one another and to see clearly the close cultural, social, spiritual and intellectual ties that have existed between them for centuries. In fact, Jews and Muslims are cousins, and I believe it is far better for us to live together in peace and harmony, than die together in disgrace"

"The Khalili Collection `Enamels Of The World 1700 – 2000’, which includes spectacular masterpieces from all the major centres of enameling, is pioneering in its focused study of the subject. Unique in its scope, the Collection reveals the remarkable technical achievements of the enamellers and encourages a greater awareness of the range of their activity. For these reasons I was convinced that the first public showing of the Collection should take place in the galleries of the State Hermitage Museums in St Petersburg"

"I wish to thank one of our most dynamic UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors, Professor Nasser D Khalili, for his passion and unfailing commitment to the values of heritage. He has spent considerable time and effort safeguarding Islamic heritage and is now the custodian of the largest group of objects related to the Holy City of Makkah."

"Many items in the Nasser D. Khalili collection are completely unique - without parallel in museums let alone the market. It is a collection that would be impossible to recreate."

"I realize that my study of dhimmitude remains incomplete because it is limited to Jews and Christians. It should be supplemented by the dhimmitude of the Zoroastrians, located in an inferior category, and that of Buddhists and Hindus, considered as idolaters. A few books on this subject have recently been published in India. The picture they paint is similar to that of regions to the west of the Indian subcontinent. The contemporary historical negationism in India, with the collusion of Hindu politicians, is discussed in detail by Koenraad Elst…"

"Europe's economic greed was instrumentalized by Arab League policy in a long-term political strategy targeting Israel, Europe, and America. […] Through the labyrinth of the EAD system, a policy of Israel's delegitimization was planned at both the EC's national and international levels. […] Strategically, the Euro-Arab Cooperation was a political instrument for anti-Americanism in Europe, whose aim was to separate and weaken the two continents by an incitement to hostility and the permanent denigration of American policy in the Middle East ."

"The Islamists are the spearhead of current anti-Semitism, aided and abetted by the moral relativism of all too many naïve Western liberals."

"Here lies Evgeny Kissin, son of the Jewish people, a servant of music."

"Yet we are not always justified in concluding that the killing of animals causes a less number to exist; because some of them are carnivorous, and by being killed they can no longer kill others: while others are graminivorous, and when they can no longer eat up the fruits of the soil, other animals may live upon such fruits instead; still there is no justification of slaughter, as the identical lives are certainly thereby destroyed; and if such an excuse be admitted, it must apply by the same rule to the slaughter even of human beings. But however this may be, it is evident that by far the greatest number of animals live in terror and die by violence from their devourers, and the males also by the attacks of each other, besides pestilence, diseases, accidents and starvation, few living their natural time; while by means of many being sacrificed, a few are enabled to live like in a ship of short provision, though without an equitable casting of lots, but by the law of force over weakness; and this law not being confined to dumb animals, but ruling the lots of man as well as of animals, though its operations on human life may be more concealed, but here also population is kept in check by want of food and by warfare; among mankind itself justice is little more than a name, might being the chief law observed: here, too, the strong destroy and oppress the weak; some are enabled to live and multiply, while many starve and live in celibacy to prevent an overflow, which, notwithstanding, does arise: dispute and warfare then result in which some are destroyed and some preserved. But no person, however virtuous, can live in comfort without consuming more than his share. Such is the world we live in, however Pope may contend that "virtue alone is happiness below.""

"The slaying of animals for the most trifling purposes is defended on the ground, that if not done, they would be too numerous, and consequently troublesome to man, and unhappy in themselves; while the promotion of their increase is defended on the assumption, that we are then the authors of much happiness. But let us apply a cautious ear to such reasoning. If the promoting the increase of animals is being the author of increased happiness, destroying them must be positive evil. For our own parts, we prefer neutrality as much as possible on these points, because we know not whether the life of animals generally, abound most with pleasure or pain. We confess that in our view of the question, pain seems to predominate; and the more so the more the numbers of animals are increased; indeed, we neither approve the promoting of the increase of animals, nor of destroying them."

"The economy of life seems to be that man and most animals if in peace and plenty, would soon overstock the world with their produce, and that most species continue to increase till they exceed the food provided for their support, or till killed to make way for others. Some moralists admire this system of one animal devouring another as they say by this means more can live, and consequently they infer more happiness results. But that more can live by this means we doubt, and still more that the degree of happiness is increased; first, they must convince us that life generally abounds in pleasure, as to us the reverse seems to be the fact; though necessarily admitted by the Almighty for reasons beyond our reach to discover. If we look at the forest, the ocean, the air, or a drop of water in a microscope, all is found teeming with life, and to a superficial eye all is in active enjoyment; but a nice observer soon discovers the universal discord, trepitude and destruction proceeding everywhere: the strong oppressing the weak, one party half starved and ravenously pursuing another, some terrified devoted victims vainly endeavouring to escape the hungry jaws of their pursuer, some perished by want, others devoured alive, thousands destroyed every instant, and few allowed to remain, but those few so nicely balanced as to preserve the species through numerous ages; every fly or reptile, however contemptible in the eyes of some persons being possessed of a pedigree more remote than the most ancient nobility can emblazon, great grandfathers and mothers from time immemorial; and notwithstanding they are in the midst of their enemies, including man, who use every means and violence to destroy them; here by the care of God, they remain preserved from thousands of years back, as uninjured as if in a bandbox!!"

"Does it follow that a person is to withhold the performance of the good which may be within his power, because he does not attempt that which may seem beyond it?"

"I do not see what right one animal has to deprive another of its small importance, to prevent himself from losing more: if this theory be generally admitted, a young man might kill an old man, to save his own longer expectant life. And are we authorized to kill one animal for the benefit of another of its species? If they should overstock the world, it will then be time to begin to destroy them. It seems however more just that nature should take her course, and that man should be neutral till provoked. It is certainly easier for him to destroy others than to suffer inconvenience himself; but that does not make it right. We have not however at present any reason to complain of the too great fecundity of those animals we use for food, etc., and we even take great pains to produce them, not for their own enjoyment, but for the good and pleasure we derive by destroying and tormenting them."

"The plan by which Nature preserves, regulates and produces her beings, though continually before the eyes of mankind, enters little into their brains or hearts. Authors generally varnish over, or hide the unsightly parts of her system, and in their mistaken religious zeal, think they see the beauty while they are dwelling on the deformity; one minute they allude to the immense produce and destruction of animals for the support of each other, and then pass on into eulogies on the power and goodness of God, in having been the author of this destruction, by which means they state so much happiness and delight springs, and the only object of God being, as they would lead us to believe, the benefit of mankind."

"It seems that most animals produce many more offspring than can find food, but that their numbers are kept small by other animals who prey upon them, otherwise they would perish by famine: which of the two evils would be the greatest we do not pretend to determine, but as the former is the plan most adopted we must believe it to be the best."

"Axiom 5. That we should never admit of the propriety of the will or volition of one animal being the agent of another, unless we should perceive its own good to result from it, or that justice should require it."

"[W]e should never admit of the propriety of the will or volition of one animal being the agent of another, unless we should perceive its own good to result from it, or that justice should require it."

"Axiom 8. That the importance of any action is measured by the degree of pleasure or pain that it causes or prevents."

"Every animal possesses something which distinguishes it from all other animals; and this is what I understand by personal identity, or rather the identical self. This in every animal is perfectly distinct and indivisible, since the only knowledge we have of it is when it is entire; and divisibility of this is what we cannot conceive: but if indivisible, it must also be indestructible, and must always have existed. It is not possessed of any kind of consciousness: but no consciousness can, it appears, exist without it; as life itself seems to be composed of personal identity, and other essentials of the mind or body, and that it is the combination which produces consciousness."

"It has been generally, but not always, the custom of naturalists to degrade the powers of dumb animals into mere instinct, and not to allow them reason; and on the other hand to elevate the qualities of man, by entirely disavowing the power of instinct in man, giving him the use of reason alone. It appears to me, that there is such a quality as instinct; by which I understand a desire to do any thing without knowing why, or without having the object in view which it is to reach. I am of opinion that both reason and instinct act in man and also in brutes; and I will even grant that the proportion of reason to instinct is greater in man than in other animals; but that the latter possess a great portion of reason would it seems be absurd to dispute."

"First, how do you prove that mankind is invested with the right of killing them, and that brutes have been created for the purpose you assert them to be? Secondly, it is to be observed that the flesh of man himself possesses the same nourishing and palatable qualities? And are we then to become cannibals for that reason?"

"Still we are not positive that if neither destroyed by enemies nor famine they would increase too much; because for aught we known the fecundity is only great because the destruction is great; instead of the numbers being limited by the destruction, as if nature had said to the camivori, do what you will, you shall not reduce the number of animals, the more you kill the more I will produce. Were the experiment tried on a small scale of letting them be well fed and indulged they might produce prodigiously, but if the experiment extended to their whole races a different result might for aught we know obtain, as we are ignorant of the law by which nature governs the mode of production."

"[E]very animal has more right to the use of its own body than others have to use it."