Osama

“In all the known history of Mankind, advances have been made primarily in physical technology; in the capacity of handling the inanimate world about Man. Control of self and society has been left to to chance or to the vague gropings of intuitive ethical systems based on inspiration and emotion. As a result no culture of greater stability than about fifty-five percent has ever existed, and these only as the result of great human misery.”
― Isaac Asimov, Second Foundation

“مأساة الآدمية أنها تبدأ من الطين، وأن عليها أن تحتل مكانتها بعد ذلك بين النجوم”
― Naguib Mahfouz, حضرة المحترم

“وقال شفيق لأبيه ذات مساء :
نحن جيل من الضحايا , إني أصدق من يقول ذلك
فسأله محمد : ضحايا لمن ؟
أجاب : لجميع من سبقنا!”
― نجيب محفوظ, الباقي من الزمن ساعة

“The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity—a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation