GCC Red

“ليس الفن ما نصوره، ولا الشعر ما ننظمه يا جبران. بل الفن أن ندرك بأرواحنا ألفة الحياة فنؤلف ما بين أفكارنا ومنازعنا وأقوالنا وأعمالنا حتى لا يبقى فينا من نقيض يناهض نقيضاً. والشعر أن نجد لأيامنا وزناً ولليالينا قافية. وما دمنا تمر بنا حالات تتعصر لها قلوبنا، وتعتم أبصارنا، ويتحول الشهد في أفواهنا علقماً، والشدة في مفاصلنا رخاوة، فما نفعنا من صورة جميلة نرسمها أو من قصيدة عصماء ننظمها؟ أنصور الجمال قبل أن يصورنا الجمال؟ أنلفظ الحقّ قبل أن يلفظنا الحقّ؟”
― Mikhail Naimy - ميخائيل نعيمة, جبران خليل جبران

“sarcasm is the ability to insult an idiot without realizing it”
― Jhon Green

“1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”
― Don Miguel Ruiz

“Flatterers: "He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander."

— Napoleon

Flattery: Diplomats must have no delusions of grandeur, but they should know how to induce them in others.

Flattery: "Flattery pleases very generally. In the first place, the flatterer may think what he says to be true; but, in the second place, whether he thinks so or not, he certainly thinks those whom he flatters of consequence enough to be flattered."

— Samuel Johnson

Flattery, influence through: "Praise other men whose deeds are like those of the person you are talking to; commend other actions which are based on the same policies as his. If there is someone else who is guilty of the same vice he is, be sure to gloss over it by showing that it really does no great harm; if there is someone else who has suffered the same failure he has, be sure to defend it by demonstrating that it is not a loss after all. If he prides himself on his physical prowess, do not antagonize him by mentioning the difficulties he has encountered in the past; if he consider himself an expert at making decisions, do not anger him by pointing out his past errors; if he pictures himself a sagacious planner, do not tax him with his failures. Make sure that there is nothing in your ideas as a whole that will vex your listener, and nothing about your words that will rub him the wrong way, and then you may exercise your powers of rhetoric to the fullest. This is the way to gain the confidence and intimacy of the person you are addressing and to make sure you are able to say all you have to say without incurring his suspicion."

— Han Feizi, as translated by Burton Watson

[誉异人与同行者，规异事与同计者。有与同污者，则必以大饰其无伤也；有与同败者，则必以明饰其无失也。彼自多其力，则毋以其难概之也；自勇其断，则无以其谪怒之；自智其计，则毋以其败穷之。大意无所拂悟，辞言无所系縻，然后极骋智辩焉，此道所得亲近不疑而得尽辞也。——《韩非子·说难》]”
― Chas W. Freeman Jr., The Diplomat's Dictionary