Zeyad > Zeyad's Quotes

“Man is a rational animal. So at least we have been told. Throughout a long life I have searched diligently for evidence in favor of this statement. So far, I have not had the good fortune to come across it.”
― Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

“أن تشعـر بالذنب أو تُشعـَرَ به. أعتقد أن كل شئ يكمن هنا. فالحياة هى صراع الجميع ضد الجميع. هذا معروف، لكن كيف يتجلى هذا الصراع فى مجتمع متمدن إلى هذا الحد ؟ لا يمكن للناس أن يهاجموا بعضهم بعضًا عندما يلتقون. يحاولون بدلًا من ذلك أن يلقوا على الآخرين عار الشعور بالذنب. وسيفـوز من ينجح فى جعل الآخـر مذنبًا. وسيخسر من يعترف بخطئه.”
― Milan Kundera, La festa dell'insignificanza

“Of all evil I deem you capable: Therefore I want good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Maybe the target nowadays is not to discover what we are but to refuse what we are.”
― Michel Foucault

“In the depths of my heart I can’t help being convinced that my dear fellow-men, with a few exceptions, are worthless.”
― Sigmund Freud, Letters of Sigmund Freud, 1873-1939;

“What cannot be said above all must not be silenced but written.”
― Jacques Derrida

“I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.”
― Pietro Aretino

“It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.”
― George R.R. Martin

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
― Daniel Patrick Moynihan

“When I was young, I forgot how to laugh in the cave of Trophonius; when I was older, I opened my eyes and beheld reality, at which I began to laugh, and since then, I have not stopped laughing. I saw that the meaning of life was to secure a livelihood, and that its goal was to attain a high position; that love’s rich dream was marriage with an heiress; that friendship’s blessing was help in financial difficulties; that wisdom was what the majority assumed it to be; that enthusiasm consisted in making a speech; that it was courage to risk the loss of ten dollars; that kindness consisted in saying, “You are welcome,” at the dinner table; that piety consisted in going to communion once a year. This I saw, and I laughed.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
― Mark Twain

“A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.”
― Mark Twain

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”
― Mark Twain

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
― Mark Twain

“Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.”
― Mark Twain

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
― Mark Twain

“The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we take ourselves too seriously.”
― George R.R. Martin