From 'Captain Fantastic'

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She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry

She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by

ألف إمتحان باطنية
ولا نسائية واحد

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"Du kannst, denn du willst"

Wise men say, and not without reason, that whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever will be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.

- Niccolò Machiavelli

I argue that industrial civilization will yield to the “same passions” that have produced the “same results” in all previous times. There is simply no escape from our all-too-human nature. In the end, mastering the historical process would require human beings to master themselves, something they are very far from achieving. (This is why democracy, considered by some to be an asset in the struggle against the forces that challenge industrial civilization, is in fact a liability.)

- Immoderate Greatness, by William Ophuls

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A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.

- Will Durant.

Forests precede civilizations. Deserts follow them.

- François-René de Chateaubriand

ما لا يُدرِكه أغلبُ المنتفعين من الحضارة وإنجازاتِها هو أنّ الحمايةَ والأمانَ الذي توفره الحضارة (من الأمراض والأحداث الطبيعية والعنف البشري مثلًا) هو أمانٌ هشٌّ ورقيق، بالضبط مِثل وجودِنا البشري على قشرةِ الكوكب، إذ أنّ كلاهما عُرضَةٌ للدمار الشامل ابتداءً من الكوارث الطبيعية مثل الزلازل والعواصف الشمسية وصولًا للأوبئة والحروب والهجمات الإرهابية.

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Cultural solutions are organisms, not machines, and they cannot be invented deliberately or imposed by prescription.

- Wendell Berry