Kamel Mahmoud > Kamel's Quotes

“Science may be described as the art of systematic oversimplification.”
― Karl Popper

“The so-called paradox of freedom is the argument that freedom in the sense of absence of any constraining control must lead to very great restraint, since it makes the bully free to enslave the meek. The idea is, in a slightly different form, and with very different tendency, clearly expressed in Plato.

Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.”
― Karl Raimund Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

“لقد أدركت أن العربي بصفة عامة والمصري بصفة خاصة أشد ميلا بحكم ثقافته إلى العبارات المثيرة للوجدان، منه إلى العبارة المستندة إلى عقل،و أدركت فوق هذا وذلك أن في مقدمة الإصلاح أن نربي الأجيال الجديدة على وقفة يفرق لنفسه فيها بين ما هو عام فيحيله إلى العقل وادواته وما هو خاص فلا بأس عندئذ في الركو إلى لغة الشعور.”
― زكي نجيب محمود, قصة عقل

“ومن ثم يكون معني التطرف يا صاحبي هو أن يأخذ المسلم بطريقة معينة في الفهم أو قل بمذهب معين ثم يعلن أنه هو وحده الصحيح و قد أخطأ ىلآخرون”
― زكي نجيب محمود, رؤية إسلامية

“‎بين اليقظة الواعية في طرف ، و الموت البارد في طرف آخر ، هنالك حالات متدرجة من الغيبوبة و النعاس ، و سيأخذك العجب حين أزعم لك أن قلة ضئيلة من الناس هي اليقظانة الواعية ، و أما الكثرة الغالبة منهم ففي غيبوبة و نعاس ، في وجوههم أعين مفتوحة ، لكنها تنظر ولا ترى”
― زكي نجيب محمود, الكوميديا الأرضية

“Cogito ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am.)”
― René Descartes

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
― René Descartes

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
― René Descartes

“And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.”
― Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

“I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain.”
― Rene Descartes

“Doubt is the origin of wisdom”
― Rene Descartes

“The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.”
― Rene Descartes

“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
― George Washington Burnap, The Sphere and Duties of Woman: A Course of Lectures

“We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can do without.”
― Immanuel Kant

“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
― Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers

“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
― Emmanuel Kant

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”
― Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals/On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns

“Look closely. The beautiful may be small.”
― Immanuel Kant

“Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! 'Have courage to use your own reason!'- that is the motto of enlightenment.”
― Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?

“An age cannot bind itself and ordain to put the succeeding one into such a condition that it cannot extend its (at best very occasional) knowledge , purify itself of errors, and progress in general enlightenment. That would be a crime against human nature, the proper destination of which lies precisely in this progress and the descendants would be fully justified in rejecting those decrees as having been made in an unwarranted and malicious manner.

The touchstone of everything that can be concluded as a law for a people lies in the question whether the people could have imposed such a law on itself.”
― Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?

“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”
― Albert Camus

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
― Albert Camus

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus

“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
― Albert Camus

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
― Albert Camus

“Live to the point of tears.”
― Albert Camus

“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”
― Albert Camus

“You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.”
― Albert Camus, The Fall

“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”
― Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942

“Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.”
― Albert Camus