amin maalouf

“life is not so long that one can grow tired of it”

“is there a difference between being the midwife of truth, or the midwife of legends?”

“it's not often in life that you can misbehave for the good of the cause”

“are you certain that a man's life begins with his birth?”

“Merasa diperlakukan tidak adil kadang bisa menimbulkan luka, tetapi kadang juga bisa menyembuhkan luka, dan bahkan kadang juga bisa membunuh orang yang merasakannya. Tetapi bagi wanita, perasaan itu lebih sering menjadi alasan yang kuat untuk bertahan”

“العلم حيادي خلقيا, وهو في خدمة حكمة البشر كما في خدمة جنونهم. وهو معرّض غدا كما هو معرّض اليوم كما كان بالأمس، لخطر الانحراف، والتحول لمصلحة الطغيان، أو الجشع أو الاغراق في القدم”

“In my prayers, I want to say: Lord, don’t be far from me, and also don’t come too close. Let me contemplate the stars on the texture of your cloth, but don’t unveil your face to me. Allow me to hear the rivers that you send running, but Lord! Lord! Don’t allow me hearing your voice”

“Our ancestors are our children; we peer through a hole in the wall and watch them play in their rooms, and they can't see us.”

“C'est notre regard qui enferme souvent les autres dans leurs plus étroites appartenances, et c'est notre regard aussi qui peut les libérer. ”

“Isn't it a characteristic of the age we live in that it has made everyone in a way a migrant and a member of a minority?”

“For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrowest allegiances. And it is also the way we look at them that may set them free.”

“Every individual is a meeting ground for many different allegiances, and sometimes these loyalties conflict with one another and confront the person who harbors them with difficult choices”

“What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself”

“A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words. Those that seem clearest are often the most treacherous.”

“I am the son of the road , my country is a caravan and my life is the most unexpected of voyages. i belong to earth and to the god and it is to them that I will one day soon return”