quotes from classic

A person can only be born in one place. However, he may die several times elsewhere: in the exiles and prisons, and in a homeland transformed by the occupation and oppression into a nightmare.

more quotes from Mahmoud Darwish

Sometimes I feel as if I am read before I write. When I write a poem about my mother, Palestinians think my mother is a symbol for Palestine. But I write as a poet, and my mother is my mother. She's not a symbol.

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When a writer declares that his first book is his best, that is bad. I progress successively from book to book.

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The importance of poetry is not measured, finally, by what the poet says but by how he says it.

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When I passed the age of 50, I learned how to control my emotions.

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Some people ask, 'How do you attract the young and so many different people when your poetry is complicated and different?' I say, 'My accomplishment is that my readers trust me and accept my suggestions for change.'

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I see poetry as spiritual medicine.

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Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down.

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To be under occupation, to be under siege, is not a good inspiration for poetry.

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History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor.

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Sarcasm helps me overcome the harshness of the reality we live, eases the pain of scars and makes people smile.

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Nothing, nothing justifies terrorism.

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I've built my homeland, I've even founded my state - in my language.

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Exile is more than a geographical concept. You can be an exile in your homeland, in your own house, in a room.

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It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion.

more quotes from Rene Daumal

Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety.

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Words are made for a certain exactness of thought, as tears are for a certain degree of pain. What is least distinct cannot be named; what is clearest is unutterable.

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Fame, like the river, is narrowest where it is bred, and broadest afar off.

more quotes from William Davenant

In White Plains I wasn't theatrical at all. I was a model and I used to take the train into New York three days a week to do travelogue work.

more quotes from John Davidson

Singing well has always been important to me, but the most important factor is the connection to the audience.

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