Asmaa Hashim

“I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits”
― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
― Anais Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

“وربما أوجب استقصاؤنا النظر عدولاً عن المشهور والمتعارف ، فمن قرع سمعه خلاف ما عهده ، فلا يبادرنا بالإنكار ، فذلك طيش ، فرُبَّ شنعٌ حق ومألوفٌ محمودٌ كاذب ، والحق حقٌ في نفسه ، لا لقول الناس له ، ولنذكر دومًا قولهم: إذا تساوت الأذهان والهمم ، فمتأخرُ كل صنعةٍ خيرٌ من متقدمها”
― ابن النفيس, مخطوطة شرح معاني القانون

“I am the most tired woman in the world. I am tired when I get up. Life requires an effort I cannot make. Please give me that heavy book. I need to put something heavy like that on top of my head. I have to place my feet under the pillows always, so as to be able to stay on earth. Otherwise I feel myself going away, going away at a tremendous speed, on account of my lightness. I know that I am dead. As soon as I utter a phrase my sincerity dies, becomes a lie whose coldness chills me. Don't say anything, because I see that you understand me, and I am afraid of your understanding. I have such a fear of finding another like myself, and such a desire to find one! I am so utterly lonely, but I also have such a fear that my isolation be broken through, and I no longer be the head and ruler of my universe. I am in great terror of your understanding by which you penetrate into my world; and then I stand revealed and I have to share my kingdom with you.”
― Anais Nin