Alaa Atya > Alaa's Quotes

“Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.”
― Honoré de Balzac

“If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“I had already found that it was not good to be alone, and so made companionship with what there was around me, sometimes with the universe and sometimes with my own insignificant self; but my books were always my friends, let fail all else.”
― Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone around the World

“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

“After all, tomorrow is another day!”
― Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

“ثم إنني بين نارين: نار الوحدى و نار ثرثرته.. أحياناً أفضل إحدى الناريين على الأخرى...”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, أسطورة النبوءة

“انتهت صداقتنا ليس بمشاجرة أو موقف عنيف، وإنما هي حالة من القرف والملل التدريجي ... ما ينتهي ببطء لا يعود بسرعة .. لا يعود أبدًا ..!”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, قصاصات قابلة للحرق

“لا يكفيك أن تنساها .. يجب كذلك أن تنسى أنك نسيتها !”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, قصاصات قابلة للحرق

“يومًا ما سأقرأ هذه الكتب وأصير رائعًا .. لكن ليس اليوم !”
― أحمد خالد توفيق

“قلت لها إن الناس يجب ألا تتزوج إلا لكي تأتي للعالم بمن هو أفضل... طفل أجمل منك، أغنى منك، أقوى منك.
ما جدوى أن يتزوّج الشّقاء من التّعاسة؟ الهباب من الطّين؟
ما الجديد الّذي سنقدّمه للعالم سوى المزيد من البؤس؟”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, يوتوبيا

“إن المصريين لايحبون المنطوى، ولا يستريحون له بشكلٍ عام ... إنهم يفهمون أن تكون وقحاً ، أو أن تكون صاخباً، أما أن تكون منطوياً مهذباً غامضاً، فهم يظنون بك الظنون”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, أسطورة آكل البشر

“وداعا أيها الغريب
كانت إقامتك قصيرة، لكنها كانت رائعة
عسى أن تجد جنتك التي فتشت عنها كثيرا

وداعا أيها الغريب

كانت زيارتك رقصة من رقصات الظل
قطرة من قطرات الندى قبل شروق الشمس
لحناً سمعناه لثوان من الدغل
ثم هززنا رؤوسنا وقلنا أننا توهمناه

وداعا أيها الغريب
لكن كل شيء ينتهي!”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, أسطورة النبوءة

“أن تتوقع أن يعاملك العالم برفق لأنك إنسان طيب، أشبه بأن تتوقع ألا يلتهمك الأسد لأنك نباتي لا تأكل اللحوم.”
― أحمد خالد توفيق, زغازيغ

“لا أحد يملك زرًا يضغط عليه ليكون أفضل، لكني سأبحث عن هذا الزر ولسوف أجده .. إن التوقف عن المحاولة والبحث عن الأفضل هو مرادف للفظة (موت).. وأنا لم أمت بعد على قدر علمي .”
― أحمد خالد توفيق

“The song I came to sing
remains unsung to this day.
I have spent my days in stringing
and in unstringing my instrument.

The time has not come true,
the words have not been rightly set;
only there is the agony
of wishing in my heart . . .”
― Rabindranath Tagore

“My dearest life, I know you are not mine forever; but do love me even if it’s for this moment. After that I shall vanish into the forest where you cast me, I won’t ask anyone for anything again. Give me something that can last me till I die.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, Chokher Bali

“الذاكرة لا تقتل . تؤلم الماً لا يطاق ، ربما . و لكننا إذ نطيقه تتحول من دوامات تسحبنا إلى قاع الغرق إلى بحر نسبح فيه . نقطع المسافات . نحكمه و نملى إرادتنا عليه”
― رضوى عاشور, الطنطورية

“Do you hate people?”

“I don't hate them...I just feel better when they're not around.”
― Charles Bukowski, Barfly

“There's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going to let anybody see you.”
― Charles Bukowski

“We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes”
― Charles Bukowski

“It was true that I didn’t have much ambition, but there ought to be a place for people without ambition, I mean a better place than the one usually reserved. How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?”
― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

“there is a place in the heart that
will never be filled

a space

and even during the
best moments
and
the greatest times
times

we will know it

we will know it
more than
ever

there is a place in the heart that
will never be filled
and

we will wait
and
wait

in that space.”
― Charles Bukowski

“Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women

“I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness; a kind of non-being, and I accepted it. I didn't make for an interesting person. I didn't want to be interesting, it was too hard. What I really wanted was only a soft, hazy space to live in, and to be left alone.”
― Charles Bukowski

“The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidates who reminded them most of themselves. I had no interests. I had no interest in anything. I had no idea how I was going to escape. At least the others had some taste for life. They seemed to understand something that I didn't understand. Maybe I was lacking. It was possible. I often felt inferior. I just wanted to get away from them. But there was no place to go.”
― Charles Bukowski