Mariam Taha

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“Moreover, I have boundary issues with men. Or maybe that’s not fair to say. To have issues with boundaries, one must have boundaries in the first place, right? But I disappear into
the person I love. I am the permeable membrane. If I love you, you can have everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog’s money, my
dog’s time—everything. If I love you, I will carry for you all your pain, I will assume for you all your debts (in every definition of the word), I will protect you from your own insecurity, I will project upon you all sorts of good qualities that you have never actually cultivated in yourself and I will buy Christmas presents for your entire family. I will give you the sun and the rain, and if they are not available, I will give you a sun check and a rain check. I will give you all this and more, until I get so exhausted and depleted that the only way I can recover my energy is by becoming infatuated with someone else.
I do not relay these facts about myself with pride, but this is how it’s always been.
Some time after I’d left my husband, I was at a party and a guy I barely knew said to me, “You know, you seem like a completely different person, now that you’re with this new boyfriend. You used to look like your husband, but now you look like David. You even dress like
him and talk like him. You know how some people look like their dogs? I think maybe you always look like your men.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“بهتنا أول الأمر. إنه اليقين. ياللذهول! انتهى الرجل؟.. من كان يتصور؟ لماذا نؤمن أحيانا بأنه يوجد مستحيل. لماذا نتصور أنه لا توجد حقيقة فى هذه الدنيا سوى الموت؟ الموت هو. الموت هو الدكتاتور الحقيقى. و يجئ البيان الرسمى كالجملة الختامية. ترى ماذا يقول الناس؟ أريد أن أسمع ما يقال حولنا فى المقهى. و تحركت مرهف السمع. لاحول و لا قوة إلا بالله. هو وحده الدائم. البلد يواجه خطرا لا يستهان به. لا يستحق هذه النهاية مهما قيل عن أخطائه.. فى يوم نصره؟ مؤامرة.. توجد مؤامرة محكمة و لاشك. فى داهية.. الموت أنقذه من الجنون. على أى حال كان يجب أن يذهب. هذا جزاء من يتصور أن البلد جثة هامدة. بل هى مؤامرة خارجية. لا يستحق هذه النهاية. إنها نهاية محتومة. كان لعنة. من قتل يقتل و لو بعد حين. فى لحظة انهارت إمبراطورية. إمبراطورية اللصوص فيم تفكر العصابة الآن.”
― نجيب محفوظ, The Day the Leader Was Killed

“We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.”
― Katharine Hepburn, Me: Stories of My Life