Levantine Quotes & Sayings

This Levantine spirit developed gradually in Beirut after the Industrial Revolution, as the burgeoning Lebanese silk trade and the invention of the steamboat combined to bring men and women of America and Western Europe in large numbers to the Levant. These settlers from the West were Catholic and Protestant missionaries, diplomats, and merchants, Jewish traders, travelers and physicians; and they brought with them Western commerce, manners, and ideas and, most of all, a certain genteel, open, tolerant attitude toward life and toward other cultures. Their mores and manners were gradually imitated by elite elements of the local native populations, who made a highly intelligent blend of these Western ideas with their own indigenous Arabic, Greek, and Turkish cultures, which had their own traditions of tolerance. "To be a Levantine," wrote Hourani, "is to live in two worlds or more at once, without belonging to either." In — Thomas L. Friedman

Did chemistry theorems exist? No: therefore you had to go further, not be satisfied with the quia, go back to the origins, to mathematics and physics. The origins of chemistry were ignoble, or at least equivocal: the dens of the alchemists, their abominable hodgepodge of ideas and language, their confessed interest in gold, their Levantine swindles typical of charlatans and magicians; instead, at the origin of physics lay the strenuous clarity of the West-Archimedes and Euclid. — Primo Levi

Israelis are a mix of North African, Levantine, and Eastern European, which inflames the politics but does amazing things for the women. — Kenneth Cain

How lovely she was in her raiments of silk and levantine purple; the fabric provocatively set off the sheen of her white shoulders, which glistened with the sweat of the world. I was on the verge of giving in to the dangerous enticements of her caresses when I realized that I recognized her from an earlier encounter, back at the dawn of time. — Gerard De Nerval

I cannot say that I have faith anymore. Hope, perhaps. We have agreed that it will do for now. — Geraldine Brooks

The combination of lentils with rice or bulgur is the absolute height of Levantine comfort food. I could eat it every day. — Yotam Ottolenghi

This evening, I've demonstrated coitus interruptus to the both of you." We stared at the Levantine, confused. The doctor snickered at his secretary's statement, as if taking part in a private conspiracy. "Jabril mentioned to me earlier that you didn't understand the meaning of coitus interruptus. Rather than providing a verbal explanation, we decided to give a demonstration," our host explained. Zac and I looked at the men agape. The Levantine smiled lasciviously before adding, "In layman's terms, coitus interruptus, otherwise known as the rejected sexual intercourse, is the withdrawal or pull-out method. "In heterosexual terms, it is a form of birth control in which a man, during intercourse, withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to orgasm. Ejaculating outside her orifice and directing his semen away from the vagina is an effort to avoid insemination. — Young

The Levantine political idea, which grew naturally among the communities of the eastern Mediterranean, was an original way of dealing with diverse tribal, village, and sectarian identities, and it inspired the Beirutis and ultimately the Lebanese to believe that they could build a modern Arab republic, melding together seventeen different Christian, Muslim, and Druse sects. — Thomas L. Friedman

For more than a millennium the eastern Mediterranean seaboard called Syria Libanensis, or Mount Lebanon, had been able to accommodate at least a dozen different sects, ethnicities, and beliefs - it worked like magic. The place resembled major cities of the eastern Mediterranean (called the Levant) more than it did the other parts in the interior of the Near East (it was easier to move by ship than by land through the mountainous terrain). The Levantine cities were mercantile in nature; people dealt with one another according to a clear protocol, preserving a peace conducive to commerce, and they socialized quite a bit across communities. This millennium of peace was interrupted only by small occasional friction within Moslem and Christian communities, rarely between Christians and Moslems. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

It is remarkable how fast and how effectively you can construct a nationality with a flag , a few speeches, and a national anthem; to this day I avoid the label "Lebanese," preferring the less restrictive "Levantine" designation. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

There's so much more to life than finding someone who will want you, or being sad over someone who doesn't. There's a lot of wonderful time to be spent discovering yourself without hoping someone will fall in love with you along the way, and it doesn't need to be painful or empty. You need to fill yourself up with love. Not anyone else. Become a whole being on your own. Go on adventures, fall asleep in the woods with friends, wander around the city at night, sit in a coffee shop on your own, write on bathroom stalls, leave notes in library books, dress up for yourself, give to others, smile a lot. Do all things with love, but don't romanticize life like you can't survive without it. Live for yourself and be happy on your own. It isn't any less beautiful, I promise. — Emery Allen

Most decisions don't require extensive research. — Gretchen Rubin

There, in the Levantine crossroads between Europe, Africa, and Asia, the sovereign nation of Israel would exemplify what right looks like. — James Mikolajczyk

Don't put your confidence in big names When they die and return to the dirt they can't do anything for you. — LeCrae

I sincerely pity the poor man you marry. I doubt he'll have a moment's peace. — Heather King