Souad

“Therefore, the search for truth was a means of trying to be more sincere with my own existence, as I would be seeking to establish the truth of this life and my place within it. For me, holding on to the sceptical view of the truth, which argues that there is no truth, was self-defeating. This is because the concept that there is no truth is actually a claim itself, so how could I claim that scepticism is true but everything else is not? This is the inconsistency of the sceptical view; a sceptic would claim the truth of scepticism but would deny all other truths. Consequently, no matter what position I held, I still had to accept a truth.”
― Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, The Divine Reality: God, Islam & the Mirage of Atheism

“We cry ’cause we slave. In night time we cry, we say we born and raised to be free people and now we slave. We doan know why we be bring ’way from our country to work lak dis. It strange to us. Everybody lookee at us strange. We want to talk wid de udder colored folkses but dey doan know whut we say. Some makee de fun at us.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

“it has been one of the greatest and most difficult years of my life. i learned everything is temporary. moments. feelings. people. flowers. i learned love is about giving. everything. and letting it hurt. i learned vulnerability is always the right choice because it is easy to be cold in a world that makes it so very difficult to remain soft. i learned all things come in twos. life and death. pain and joy. salt and sugar. me and you. it is the balance of the universe. it has been the year of hurting so bad but living so good. making friends out of strangers. making strangers out of friends. learning mint chocolate chip ice cream will fix just about everything. and for the pains it can’t there will always be my mother’s arms. we must learn to focus on warm energy. always. soak our limbs in it and become better lovers to the world. for if we can’t learn to be kind to each other how will we ever learn to be kind to the most desperate parts of ourselves.”
― Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers

“المال كل شيء: ما التبع، والأعوان، والصديق، والحشم، إلا للمال، ولا يظهر المروءة إلا المال، ولا الرأي، ولا القوة إلا بالمال. ومن لا إخوان له فلا أهل له، ومن لا أولاد له، فلا ذكر له، ومن لا عقل له، فلا دنيا له، ولا آخرة، ومن لا مال له، فلا شيء له. الفقر مجمعة للبلايا: والفقر داعية إلى صاحبه مقت الناس، وهو مسلبة للعقل والمروءة، ومذهبة للعلم والأدب، ومعدن للتهمة، ومجمعة للبلايا. ومن نزل به الفقر والفاقة لم يجد بدًا من ترك الحياء، ومن ذهب حياؤه ذهب سروره. ومن ذهب سروره مُقِتَ، ومن مقت أوذي، ومن أوذي حزن، ومن حزن فقد ذهب عقله، واستنكر حفظه، وفهمه. ومن أصيب في عقله وفهمه وحفظه، كان أكثر قوله وعمله فيما يكون عليه، لا له. فإذا افتقر الرجل اتهمه من كان له مؤتمنًا، وأساء به الظن من كان يظن به حسنًا، فإذا أذنب غيره ظنوه، وكان للتهمة وسوء الظن موضعًا. وليس من خلة هي للغني مدح إلا هي للفقير عيب، فإن كان شجاعًا سمي أهوج، وإن كان جوادًا سمي مفسدًا، وإن كان حليمًا سمي ضعيفًا، وإن كان وقورًا سمي بليدًا، وإن كان لسنًا سمي مهذرًا، وإن كان صموتًا سمي عييًّا.”
― عبد الله بن المقفع, الأدب الصغير والأدب الكبير