17 Quotes by Amin Maalouf
Amin Maalouf is a Franco-Lebanese writer and journalist known for his works exploring the themes of identity, cultural diversity, and migration. He has published several critically acclaimed novels, including "Leo the African," "The Rock of Tanios," and "Samarkand," and has won numerous literary awards for his writing. Maalouf is also a vocal advocate for the preservation of cultural heritage and the promotion of intercultural dialogue. (Bio)
Amin Maalouf Quotes
You can't say history teaches us this or that; it gives us more questions than answers, and many answers to every question. (Meaning)
The identity cannot be compartmentalized; it cannot be split in halves or thirds, nor have any clearly defined set of boundaries. I do not have several identities, I only have one, made of all the elements that have shaped its unique proportions.
Never hesitate to go far away, beyond all seas, all frontiers, all countries, all beliefs.
What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself
How do I pray? I study a rose, I count the stars, I marvel at the beauty of creation and how perfectly ordered it is, at man, the most beautiful work of the Creator, his brain thirsting for knowledge, his heart for love, and his senses, all his senses alert or gratified.
Let your tears roll tonight, but tomorrow you will start the battle again. What defeats us, always, is just our own sorrow.
I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road... all tongues and all prayers belong to me. But I belong to none of them.
Every individual is a meeting ground for many different allegiances, and sometimes these loyalties conflict with one another and confront the person who harbors them with difficult choices
For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrowest allegiances. And it is also the way we look at them that may set them free.
life is not so long that one can grow tired of it (Meaning)
... we die, just as we were born, at the edge of a road not of our choosing.
God, she was beautiful - my first image of the Orient - a woman such as only the desert poet knew how to praise: her face was the sun, her hair the protecting shadow, her eyes fountains of cool water, her body the most slender of palm-trees and her smile a mirage.
All pleasures must be paid for, do not despise those that state their price.
In my prayers, I want to say: Lord, don’t be far from me, and also don’t come too close. Let me contemplate the stars on the texture of your cloth, but don’t unveil your face to me. Allow me to hear the rivers that you send running, but Lord! Lord! Don’t allow me hearing your voice
Life is like a fire. Flames which the passer-by forgets. Ashes which the wind scatters. A man lived.
During my youth, the idea of moving from Lebanon was unthinkable. Then I began to realise I might have to go, like my grandfather, uncles and others who left for America, Egypt, Australia, Cuba.
Doctrines are meant to serve man, not the other way around.
― Amin Maalouf Quotes
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Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
