Omar Amer

“أحسن تسلية تضيع بها وقت فراغك أن تجلس وحدك في عزلة و تغمض عينيك و تذاكر العواطف التي شعرت بها و كل الدوافع التي تأرجحت بينها و كل الأفعال التي أتيتها و الكلمات التي قلتها و النيات التي أخفيتها ثم تحاول أن تصل إلى حقيقتك و تعرف واقعك و ستجد أن واقعك سيدهشك و يفاجئك كأنه واقع رجل آخر لا تعرفه ..”
― مصطفي محمود

“A belligerent samurai, an old Japanese tale goes, once challenged a Zen master to explain the concept of heaven and hell. The monk replied with scorn, "You're nothing but a lout - I can't waste my time with the likes of you!"
His very honor attacked, the samurai flew into a rage and, pulling his sword from its scabbard, yelled "I could kill you for your impertinence."
"That," the monk calmly replied, "is hell."
Startled at seeing the truth in what the master pointed out about the fury that had him in its grip, the samurai calmed down, sheathed his sword, and bowed, thanking the monk for the insight.
"And that,"said the monk "is heaven."

The sudden awakening of the samurai to his own agitated state illustrates the crucial difference between being caught up in a feeling and becoming aware that you are being swept away by it. Socrates's injunction "Know thyself" speaks to the keystone of emotional intelligence: awareness of one's own feelings as they occur.”
― Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

“ التعليم وحده لا يرقى بالناس و لا يجعلهم أفضل مما هم عليه أو أكثر حرية، أو أكثر إنسانية. إن العلم يجعل الناس أكثر قدرة، أكثر كفاءة، أكثر نفعًا للمجتمع. لقد برهن التاريخ على أن الرجال المتعلمين و الشعوب المتعلمة يمكن التلاعب بهم بل يمكن أن يكونوا أيضًا خدامًا للشر، ربما أكثر كفاءة من الشعوب المتخلفة. ”
― علي عزت بيجوفيتش, الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب

“There is no man, however wise, who has not at some period of his youth said things, or even lived in a way which was so unpleasant to him in later life that he would gladly, if he could, expunge it from his memory. But he shouldn’t regret this entirely, because he cannot be certain that he has indeed become a wise man – so far as any of us can be wise – unless he has passed through all the fatuous or unwholesome incarnations by which that ultimate stage must be reached. I know there are young people . . . whose teachers have instilled in them a nobility of mind and moral refinement from the very beginning of their schooldays. They perhaps have nothing to retract when they look back upon their lives; they can, if they choose, publish a signed account of everything they have ever said or done; but they are poor creatures, feeble descendants of doctrinaires, and their wisdom is negative and sterile. We cannot be taught wisdom, we have to discover it for ourselves by a journey which no one can undertake for us, an effort which no one can spare us.”
― Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life