Lateefa Eldirais

“سلام لانكفاء الأرجل المثقلة التعبى
على أحجارها المثقلة التعبى
سلام لارتعاشات الأيادي والمناجل
لحائط الصفصاف، والكافور
والحور، وأمواج المشاعل
لبحة الناي
وآهات الأراغيل
وإيقاع الجداول
لقامة سمراء، يكسوها الصبا الحلو
وخلخال يغازل
لوجه فلاح عن التربة
والتاريخ، والحب يقاتل
وللعصافير التي تجري مع الأطفال
في عيد السنابل”
― محمد الفيتوري, يأتي العاشقون إليك

“Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.”
― Nayyirah Waheed

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists

“يقولون إن الحب أعمى, و ذاك خطأ. بل الحب مبصر, و لكنه يرى بعين الجمال فيرى كل شيء جميلاً. لذاك كان الحب خلاصة الحياة. فمتى أحب الناسُ الناسَ تقلصت عنهم كل ظلال الشناعة فرأوا كل ما فيهم جميلاً. و متى رأى الناس كل ما فيهم جميلاً عرفوا الحب. و متى عرفوا الحب عرفوا الحياة.”
― ميخائيل نعيمة, كان ما كان