Arabic Verse Quotes & Sayings

"Who Remembers the Armenians?"

I remember them
and I ride the nightmare bus with them
each night
and my coffee, this morning
I'm drinking it with them

You, murderer -
Who remembers you? — Najwan Darwish

I don't know if he needs a tic tac or toilet paper. — Jerry Lawler

Only love is real ... everything else is illusion — Carole King

If you want to do a film, steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and do it! — Werner Herzog

But what I hope for in a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer. — Anne Tyler

Armenian Cognac

A bottle of cognac from Yerevan
is on my kitchen table
as closed as that history
and as silent
If I broke it down I'd lose a hundred years
of love
and if I opened it the ancestors
hanging here in black and white
would come down from the walls
to have a glass with me
I know a history that's been forgotten
and I know why that bottle of cognac
stands with such singular pride....

If I broke it now I'd lose a hundred years
of my people's history — Najwan Darwish

Everything looks so Christmassy here. I love it," she whispered. "I hope I can get some presents for Mom and Dad." Storm — Sue Bentley

The madder I get, the faster I go. — Martin Truex Jr.

I think it was important for me to introduce myself as an artist for the first time because I'm very proud of my past, it's all a part of my story, but this is who I am now. This was a really important thing to have an hour special that lets them in and kind of meet me for the first time, truthfully. — Jamie Lynn Spears

As Petrus Alfonsi, the converted physician authored a book called the Disciplina Clericalis, which was essentially a collection of Arabic tales translated into Latin. These tales introduced a mode of Oriental storytelling and wisdom literature into Christendom that would become extremely popular. In the section called "The Mule and the Fox," concerning the true nature of nobility, Alfonsi listed seven accomplishments expected of a knight. "The skills that one must be acquainted with are as follows: Riding, swimming, archery, boxing, hawking, chess, and verse writing."6 So, by the beginning of the twelfth century, chess had become a mandatory skill for Spain's elite warriors. — Marilyn Yalom

In the modern world, we Americans are the old inhabitants. We first had political freedom, high industrial production, an economy of abundance. — Paul Goodman

Just like you, my country cannot hear me:
She's made of bronze
and I
can no longer reach her heart

(from Thoughts on the Statue of Talaat Harb) — Najwan Darwish

Eight centuries have passed
like a nap in the late afternoon
my throat is choked
with words I cannot speak


(from The Last Soldier's Words to Saladin) — Najwan Darwish

You made peace," said the buffalo man. "You took our words and made them your own. They never understood that they were here - and the people who worshiped them were here - because it suits us that they are here. But we can change our minds. And perhaps we will. — Neil Gaiman

Physical laws are ruled by logic, and are ungovernable: so when the die comes to rest on its edge, it owes neither apology nor account. — John Hadac

An Opera for Kamal Boullata

If I were one of those musicians
who penned grand Italian operas
where the notes, like clogs
strike all the chords
of Mediterraneans like us
I would compose one
and dedicate it to you

Yet sadly these shrill words
are all I have for you — Najwan Darwish

I Will Rise One Day

I will rise one day and speak it
I, the Kurd, will rise one day
and speak it
I, the Amazigh, your voice
will rise one day
I, the Arab you know
will rise one day
and speak it:
They've gone now, Saladin — Najwan Darwish

As long as one feels that he is the doer, he cannot escape from the wheel of births. — Gautama Buddha

Let not those who hurry to fall into disbelief grieve you of such like them to disbelieve without course. — Auliq Ice

Continuous persecution of widows and orphans is a crime. Even the Bible says there is a specific place in hell for those who oppress widows. — Imelda Marcos