Amal

“Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
and eats a bread it does not harvest.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Garden of The Prophet

“لا تصدق أن الأشياء مضرة بالصحة. وحدهم الأشخاص مضرّون. وقد يلحقون بك من الأذى أكثر مما تلحق بك الأشياء التي تصرّ وزارة الصحة على تحذيرك من تعاطيها. ولذا كلَّما تقدَّم بي العمر, تعلَّمت أن أستعيض عن الناس بالأشياء, أن أحيط نفسي بالموسيقى والكتب والقهوة, فهي على الأقل لا تكيد لك, ولا تغدر بك. إنها واضحة في تعاملها معك. والأهم من هذا أنها لا تنافقك ولا تهينك ولا يعنيها أن تكون زبّالاً أو جنرالاً”
― احلام مستغانمي

“If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the world is nothing but endings.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter”
― Baruch Spinoza