... We Die, Just As

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

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

All Pleasures Must Be Paid For, Do Not Despise Those That State Their Price.

Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Lump The Most Different People Together Under The Same Heading. Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Ascribe To Them Collective Crimes, Collective Acts And Opinions. "the Serbs Have Massacred…", "the English Have Devastated…", "the Jews Have Confiscated…", "the Blacks Have Torched", "the Arabs Refuse…". We Blithely Express Sweeping Judgments On Whole Peoples, Calling Them "hardworking" And "ingenious", Or "lazy", "touchy", "sly", "proud", Or "obstinate". And Sometimes This Ends In Bloodshed." – Amin Maalouf "on Identity

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.