23 Quotes by Emile Habiby

I don't differentiate between optimism and pessimism and am at quite a loss as to which of the two characterises me. When I awake each morning I thank the lord he did not take my soul during the night. If harm befalls me during the night, I thank him that it was no worse. So which am I, a pessimist or an optimist?

My pure-white past did not so much atone for me as rather blacken my present all the more

We're used to the wonders of today. Why, if our forebears were to arise and hear the radio, see television, and witness a jumbo jet landing at an airport, spitting and roaring in the pitch-black night, they would think us polytheists for sure.

Yes, ever since that time I began looking upward and awaiting their arrival. Either they will transform my monotonous and boring life completely, or they can take me away with them.Is there an alternative?

Jacob, my old friend came first. he was sad. I shouted down to him, "The stake, old friend of a lifetime, do something!""But we all sit on one", was his reply."I don't see you on one," I objected."And we see nobody else's either. Each of us is alone, on his own stake. This is the stake we share.

The ultimate tale - of the fish that understands all languages: "the seas are wide and flow together. They have no borders and have room enough for all fish.

How long must we wait for the lilies to bud?

This is the way you always are. When you can bear the misery of your reality no longer but will not pay the price necessary to change it, only then you come to me.

Finally the true dawn emerged, splitting open the womb of the earth, and I found myself in the courtyard of the mosque, yawning and stretching my limbs