Karim Reda > Karim's Quotes

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
― Narcotics Anonymous

“You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”
― Rosemarie Urquico

“الناس لا يكلفون انفسهم عناءاً كبيراً في تصوير الحياة وتخيلها، وهم يبدون استعداداً مدهشاً لتصديق ما لا يجوز تصديقه، وتصور مالا ينبغي تصوره، وكأنما آلو على أنفسهم ألا يبذلوا جهداً، وألا يحملوا أنفسهم مشقة أو عناء، والكثرة العظمى من الناس في جهل مطبق بحقائق الحياة، ومع ذلك فهم راضون عن أنفسهم مدافعون عن جهالاتهم وأوهامهم، وإن بعضهم ليتحمس للحياة ويضحي بنفسه في سبيلها، وآية ذلك إن جهالة الجاهل جزء من شخصيته، فهو يجد في الدفاع عنها دفاعاً عن نفسه وعن حياته.”
― علي مصطفى مشرفة, العلم والحياة

“ومن أصعب الأمور على العالم أن يقنع الجاهل بقيمة العلم، كما أن من أصعب الأمور على قواد الفكر في أمة جاهلة أن يقودوا الرأي العام فيها إلى الاهتمام بالعلم.”
― علي مصطفى مشرفة

“كيف تنظر في عيني امرأة..
أنت تعرف أنك لا تستطيع حمايتها؟
كيف تصبح فارسها في الغرام؟
كيف ترجو غدًا.. لوليد ينام
-كيف تحلم أو تتغنى بمستقبلٍ لغلام
وهو يكبر -بين يديك- بقلب مُنكَّس؟”
― أمل دنقل, لا تصالح

“كيف نضجر وللسماء هذه الزرقة ، وللأرض هذه الخضرة ، وللورد هذا الشذا ، وللقلب هذه القدرة العجيبة على الحب ، وللروح هذه الطاقة اللانهائية على الإيمان. كيف نضجر وفي الدنيا من نحبهم ، ومن نعجب بهم ، ومن يحبوننا ، ومن يعجبون بنا.”
― نجيب محفوظ

“الخوف لا يمنع من الموت و لكنه يمنع من الحياة.”
― نجيب محفوظ, أولاد حارتنا

“لا يوجد وهم يبدو كأنه حقيقة مثل الحب..
ولا حقيقة نتعامل معها وكأنها الوهم مثل الموت”
― مصطفى محمود, أناشيد الإثم والبراءة

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“Relationships are like Rome -- difficult to start out, incredible during the prosperity of the 'golden age', and unbearable during the fall. Then, a new kingdom will come along and the whole process will repeat itself until you come across a kingdom like Egypt... that thrives, and continues to flourish. This kingdom will become your best friend, your soul mate, and your love.”
― Helen Keller

“if you love two people at the same time, choose the second. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second.”
― Johnny Depp

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

“ما ﺃخذ بالكوسة لا ﯾسترد بغير الكوسة”
― جلال عامر

“قال علي بابا وهو في المغارة إيه ده؟… ذهب… ياقوت… مرجان… حديد… أحمدك يا رب… فسمع صوتاً يقول له «مالكش دعوة بالحديد… سيبه مطرحه»!ا”
― جلال عامر

“انني آراك أيضا عندما لا أراك .. أشعر قبل أن أقابلك بأنك موجود وعندما أرفع عيني أجدك هناك .. أحيانا أتخيل هذا فحسب ولا تكون هناك ولكني أكاد ألمسك”
― بهاء طاهر, بالأمس حلمت بك

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

“The difference between genius and stupidity is: genius has its limits.”
― Alexandre Dumas-fils

“You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I finally understood what true love meant...love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.”
― Nicholas Sparks, Dear John

“What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”
― Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now