Weather Inside the Skull

I love the arts; they inspire me and teach me. The greatest work of art is the human being himself, even if he is not an artist. No wonder, for he is the greatest of God’s creatures.

Prison: fear. Freedom: the victory of the will.

The peak of torment: that all my needs are only my desires. The peak of comfort: that all my desires are only my needs.

Emotions are colors, meaning that they color, not that they are “types.” That is why everything empty of emotion is automatically described as pale: a pale smile, a pale look, a pale poem, and so on.

In long listening sessions to Umm Kulthum, I like to place the songs in this order: Aghadan Alqak, Hadhihi Laylati, Al-Atlal, then Fakkarouni. They represent the logical sequence of events in a truly brilliant way.

I recently realized that I had been practicing a kind of discrimination against smokers. Smoking is only one habit among dozens of habits by which humans consume money and health.

Smile, my dear. This will not be your last tragedy, and life still carries uglier gifts for you.

The only happiness in life is serenity. Always ask yourself: where is your serenity? There you will find your happiness.

The ultimate way to survive: mixing serenity with serendipity

In the end you will find that true, absolute happiness is to be alone: to grow used to quiet and become addicted to it, content with your narrow place; the narrower it is, the better: a small house, a hermitage, a prayer niche, a shell, a pen, the belly of a whale, a cave, a grave.

Wisdom: perceiving what is lacking. Happiness lies in being content with the lack.

Fear is a useful instinct when it drives a person to flee physical harm. A degraded kind of fear: the fear of one who does not understand, a fear that drives him to suspend the mind instead of seeking understanding: he recoils, mocks, turns away, erases, strikes.