There is also an important aspect to the physical presence of a book, which you can feel and smell and write notes all over. The physical book can, if you spend enough time with it, become a physical-intellectual extension of yourself.

Stay strong and do not hand your fate to others.

I want you and your generation to know that repentance should not be self-torture. Regret should not overwhelm you and force you into another form of intensity. Intensity distorts reality. And Islam in its essence is against the distortions of intensity.

Ask yourself the question: If I don't do it, who will? If you find the answer is no one will do it, then do it yourself.

The ultimate truth is that we are individuals who can choose to respect ourselves, and others, with or without regard to bloodline, wealth, tribe, or community.

We cannot rely on what was achieved by a previous generation. We need to reacquire knowledge with each generation and push its boundaries out further.

Help a friend out of trouble. Defend someone less privileged than yourself. Teach someone how to read and write. Speak in public and hear what other people think of you. You will refine your understanding of yourself in the same way that a sculptor releases a figure from a block of marble.

I do not just buy books; I collect them with the idea that they fit into a pattern of knowledge.

If you are going to live in the real world, the world of anger, violence, love and passion, responsibility, and continuity, then silence is not the path I recommend. You need to put yourself in the world, and in the way of the world.