مُعَوَّدٌ على الجلال والرَهَب
فإنْ رآك لَم تَخَف منه اضطَرَب
نَطلُبُه إذا توانى في الطَلَب
ونَلحَق المَوتَ لِحاقًا إنْ هَرَب
فإنْ تَعِبنا فهو أيضًا في تَعَب

— تميم

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The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

- Attributed to many people

"الموت يقتل الحياة بالخوف حتى قبل أن يجيء. لو رُدّ إلى الحياة لصاحَ بكلِ رجلٍ .. لا تخف .. الخوف لا يمنع من الموت ولكنه يمنع من الحياة"

- أولاد حارتنا | نجيب محفوظ

إذا غامرتَ في شرفٍ مَرومِ
فلا تَقنعْ بِما دُونَ النُّجومِ

فَطَعْمُ المَوتِ في أمرٍ حقير
كطَعمِ الموتِ في أمرٍ عظيمِ

يرَى الجُبَناءُ أنّ العَجزَ عَقْلٌ
وتِلكَ خَديعَةُ الطّبعِ اللّئيمِ

وكلّ شَجاعَةٍ في المَرْءِ تُغني
ولا مِثلَ الشّجاعَةِ في الحَكيمِ

- أبو الطيب المتنبي

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Hannah Arendt assumes that all human activities, if viewed from a sufficiently remote point in the universe, would no longer appear as deeds but as biological processes. Accordingly, for an observer in outer space, motorization would resemble a biological mutation: the human body surrounds itself with a metal housing in the manner of a snail—like bacteria reacting to antibiotics by mutating into resistant strains.

— The Burnout Society

Whoever has any experience in this matter will know how right Cato was when he said: . . . “Never is he more active than when he does nothing, never is he less alone than when he is by himself.”

— Hannah Arendt

Portrait Photograph by Saber Gerami

Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues.

للرجالِ الحكماء بصيرةٌ حادة؛ إذ تَراهم يتصفّحونَ تفاصيلَ تاريخِك الشخصي في ملامحِك ومشيَتِك وأفعالِك. طبيعَتُك مَجبولةٌ على التعبير؛ جَسَدُك الواشي له ألفُ لسانٍ ولسان.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nietzsche formulates three tasks for which [teachers] are necessary. One needs to learn to see, to think, and to speak and write. The goal of education, according to Nietzsche, is “noble culture.” Learning to see means “getting your eyes used to calm, to patience, to letting things come to you”—that is, making yourself capable of deep and contemplative attention, casting a long and slow gaze.

— The Burnout Society

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