Germeen Riad > Germeen's Quotes

“The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.”
― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

“Schools serve the same social functions as prisons and mental institutions- to define, classify, control, and regulate people.”
― Michel Foucault

“خصوصية المأساة عند جيل خاض تجربة التمرد ، هى أنه مهما كان مصير كل واحد من أبنائه ، سواء سار فى سكة السلامة ، طريق التوبة و الإذعان لقوة الأمر الواقع ، و حتى إعلان الكفر بكل قيم التمرد القديم ، أو سار فى طريق الندامة ، الإنهيار ، إعتزال الحياة ، المرض النفسى ، فإنه شاء أم أبى لا يعود أبداً نفس الشخص الذى قبل أن تبتليه غواية التمرد ، لقد مسه الحلم مرة ، و ستبقى تلاحقه دوماً ذكرى الخطيئة الجميلة ، لحظة حرية ، خفة ، لا تكاد تحتمل لفرط جمالها ، تبقى مؤرقة كالضمير ، و ملهمة ككل لحظة مفعمة بالحياة ،و الفاعلية مؤلمة”
― أروى صالح

“ستظل الظاهرتان , الناصرية والشيوعية , بالرغم من كل المثالب , من الظواهر المضيئة في تاريخنا الحديث .”
― صنع الله إبراهيم, يوميات الواحات

“الفقراء يدفعون اكثر”
― صنع الله إبراهيم, شرف

“We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate; it oppresses.”
― C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

“إن السعادة هي أن أشرب كوب شاي.. مع صديق.. في لحظة رضا.”
― محمد المخزنجي, البستان

“ثمة أسئلة موجعة ، يلزمها الكثير من الهواء الطلق ، وبعض الإنفراد”
― محمد المخزنجي, البستان

“اكتشفت ببؤس أننى -مثل كثيرين جدا- لم أعد أنتظر أى شئ جميل يحدث, لم يعد هناك ما يفرح أو يعد بالفرح. اكتشفت أن وجودى فى الحياة هو لمجرد الاستمرار فيها.. وأننى أعيش فقط بجسارة من صار يحتقر الانتحار !”
― محمد المخزنجي, البستان

“ليس كل ما يخطر للمرء يقوله ، لا سيما إذا كان صحيحا”
― محمد عفيفي, ترانيم في ظل تمارا

“LAW 4
Always Say Less Than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“LAW 46
Never Appear Too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“LAW 25
Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“An emotional response to a situation is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing your feelings.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

“كنت منهمكا في إثبات وجهة نظري الخاصة بأن الحكومة ليست أبا رؤوما ، بل هي شريك قعيد ينقصه الذكاء”
― محمد مستجاب, الحزن يميل للممازحة

“I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organised diminution of work.”
― Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

“Life, at all times full of pain, is more painful in our time than in the two centuries that preceded it. The attempt to escape from pain drives men to triviality, to self-deception, to the invention of vast collective myths. But these momentary alleviations do but increase the sources of suffering in the long run. Both private and public misfortune can only be mastered by a process in which will and intelligence interact: the part of will is to refuse to shirk the evil or accept an unreal solution, while the part of intelligence is to understand it, to find a cure if it is curable, and, if not, to make it bearable by seeing it in its relations, accepting it as unavoidable, and remembering what lies outside it in other regions, other ages, and the abysses of interstellar space”
― Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

“Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying: 'Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do.' But I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. I hope that, after reading the following pages, the leaders of the YMCA will start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing. If so, I shall not have lived in vain.”
― Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

“There are men who, through ownership of land, are able to make others pay for the privilege of being allowed to exist and to work. These landowners are idle, and I might therefore be expected to praise them. Unfortunately, their idleness is only rendered possible by the industry of others; indeed their desire for comfortable idleness is historically the source of the whole gospel of work. The last thing they have ever wished is that others should follow their example.”
― Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
― Bertrand Russell

“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”
― Bertrand Russell

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.”
― Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”
― Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

“To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it.”
― Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy

“كانت الأبيات تطربني حتي الثمالة .يستوقفني أحياناً لفظ غريب.فأنهض من مكاني مراراً ثم أعود إليه ،أتخطّي الصعوبة ومع ذلك لا أشعر بارتياح.فثمة دائماً ما يفوق إدراكي.وأشعر بنقص ما .. لا من حيث سلاسة اللغة أو المفردات أو الإيقاع .ولا حتي من حيث النص نفسه.ما ينقصني هو نوع من الخاتمة ،عنصر ما من شأنه أن يختم عملي ويُكسبه معناه كله.”
― سليم نصيب, كان صرحا من خيال

“ إن ما تحتاجه مصر أساسا إنما هو ثورة نفسية، بمعني ثورة علي نفسها أولا ، وعلي نفسيتها ثانيا ،أي تغيير جذري في العقلية والمثل وأيديولوجية الحياة قبل أي تغيير حقيقي في حياتها وكيانها ومصيرها ...ثورة في الشخصية المصرية وعلي الشخصية المصرية ...ذلك هو الشرط المسبق لتغيير شخصية مصر وكيان مصر ومستقبل مصر”
― جمال حمدان, شخصية مصر: دراسة في عبقرية المكان

“I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.”
― Simone de Beauvoir

“حين يموت من نحبه يموت شئ فينا , هذة هى الحياة , سلسلة طويلة من الموت . يموت الآخرين , فتموت أشياء فى دواخلنا , يموت من نحبهم , فتموت أعضاء من أجسادنا , الإنسان لا ينتظر موته , بل يعيشة , يعيش موت الآخرين داخله , و حين يصل الى موته , يكون قد بتر الكثير من أجزائه , و لم يبق منه إلا القليل”
― إلياس خوري, Gate of the Sun

“إذا وضعت أحداً فوق قدره فتوقع منه أن يضعك دون قدرك”
― علي بن أبي طالب

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
― Stephen Hawking