Top 11 favorite Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Quotes

1. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

2. “All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent.”

3. “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

4. “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

5. “All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.”

6. “Grown-ups love figures… When you tell them you’ve made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you ‘What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?’ Instead they demand ‘How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?’ Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”

7. “Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truely important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.”

8. “Life has meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself.”

9. "How could there by any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing needful for a man is to become - to be at last, and to die with the fullness of his being.”

10. “True love begins when nothing is looked for in return.”

11. “The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunes him more deeply into them.”

Some incomplete reflections on Manhood

“ What is a man? A man is his heart. A lying cheating heart means a lying cheating man. A loving, merciful heart means a loving, merciful man. A living heart means a living man. A dead heart means a dead man. Regardless to man’s title, regardless to man’s wealth, rank or position; If the heart is not great, then He cannot be great. But if the Heart is great than Man remains great under all circumstances, rich or poor, large or small, so does the Heart that makes one large or small.” - Muhammad Ali

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” - Master Yoda

A fearful heart makes for a fearful man, a fearful man has an angry heart, and an angry heart makes for a hateful man. No man suffers more than the angry man with a vengeful heart. Not only does the angry man suffer, but often times it's the women in his life that must pay the price of his fears. There’s generational anger that I have to break, passed down from generation after generation of Arab loss, war and shame. I want to be present and feel safe in the places I love, I want those around me to feel safe and comfortable opening their hearts to me. Hearts only open to open hearts, and when I show up in the relationships I hold dearest to me with the blinking lights of a fearful heart, I signal their defenses, I make it seem like there is a reason to feel uncertain or disquieted by the friendship; worse yet I give substance to my shadows and take my beloveds to be conspirators. My insecurities of some deep seated unworthiness of Love is often picked up on by my people as a reflection of the fragility of our friendship rather than my undelt shit. A heart without love is a lost and cold heart, a heart so empty makes for a man afraid of being alive again.

This generational baton of the hardened, reserved, silent and macho archetype of a man is exhausting to uphold. We’ve come so far as a generation in removing gendered barriers of entry on material and ideological stuff. Gender differs from sex. While sex is the biological identifier attributed to male genitalia, gender is ideologically constructed. A man with a penis will be male irrespective of the time and place we find them in. Gender on the other hand, is our cultural and social conception of manhood; what is deemed manly in 3000 B.C. will differ from what is ‘manly’ in the 1970s or 2000s. The world changes, cultures grow, and different standards are upheld or conscripted onto men. 70 years ago men might have considered themselves mutants of the human race, born into a gender that isn’t allowed to feel like all animals do. 70 years ago , being an unfeeling, calculating machine, bred for war in a world where war was the currency of power, was considered strength. It made men docile to a system bent on instrumentalizing their bodies as collateral damage in the games of the political and economic elite. Nowadays we understand the repression of emotions to be detrimental to the health and functions of any man.

A man that represses how they feel is bound to burst in a frenzy when they hit a wall, bound to hurt themselves and the people around them because they lacked the courage to face their difficult emotions. While a baton of manhood has to be passed down between generations, a symbolic hallmark of the Love of Men, it must be up to every new generation, every individual man really, to define their masculinity as they see fit for themselves. I saw the men in my lineage physically and emotionally abuse the women I cared for the most; I sat with my beloved's tears, lent my ears and voice to their healing, and felt the cold steel on my temple for defending them. It’s up to every man to feel secure enough in their manhood to respect and love their sisters and mothers for the strong and courageous life-giving spirits that they are. To respect and love their brothers and fathers as well. A son's forgiveness is necessary to ensure the violence of the past will not be repeated. There are no villains or heroes in real life, everybody has both a capacity for good and harm, everybody has a story and some hurt. Whether that pain is used for compassion or revenge is up to us. A brother's honesty, mercy and council are crucial for keeping the men in our lives in check. It’s up to men to hold themselves and one another accountable to the respect and care of women and to the larger historical project of rediscovering the culture of boyhood along kinder values.

It’s not easy being a man. Especially an Arab man. We're expected to carry the burdens of our loved ones and our communities, squarely on our shoulders. Providers of a home, a family car, the education of our children, vacations, a wedding ring. A bunch of material shit that doesn't really ensure the wellbeing of our loved ones, at least not without emotional and spiritual support as well. We gotta be our partner's rock, stable, responsible, clear-minded, caring. We have to be funny, stay interesting and strong. Brave enough to talk to the cute girl at the bar, not too brave tho, that might come off cocky, or make her feel uncomfortable. We're expected to pursue careers that will help us survive this twisted material world, secure the basic necessities rather than pursue what we love. Be a 'man' but don't forget to be in touch with your feelings. But hey don't feel too much because that effeminizes you, no girl likes a sensitive man. No girl likes an insensitive one either. Ladies first through the door, wait but that's sexist. Pay for the bill, you're the man. Go talk to her, you're the man. You should apologize, you're the man. But hey, it's the 21st century, she can pay, court and apologize too! Except if she does, you're less of a man. You're the man, don't expect much, no shoulders for you to cry on, no support or care, no checkins nor company. You're hurting? Man up. It hurts? That's life. You're alone? That's how it's meant to be. A boy learns to be independent and self-sufficient, because he must be dependable. A man learns to depend on his people. Learn strength, but don't be violent. Be wise, but don't be paternalistic. Be funny, but take some things seriously, but not too many things, a man's charm is in his simplicity. Listen to your elders, but pave your own way.

Generational Anger. The soldier’s persistent urge to fight against the mundane when they come Home from War. I heard on an X-men reboot (although I'm pretty sure this is Nietzche) that 'in times of peace the warlike man will go to war with himself'. Before I turned 7 my family and I survived two wars. I was born in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire in 2000. From 2002 until 2005 when we escaped, by parents protected my Sister and I from the brutal civil war of Ivory Coast which lasted until 2007. We went to Lebanon where we would shortly have to leave our home behind to the July War of 2006. I lived the rest of life in relative privilege, but still had to contend with the violence of war that followed us home. We received our history from centuries of wars fought by good and great men, who came home to the burdens of a war well fought. To terror in their hearts, blood on their hands, and an incessant urge to fight, to survive. Fight even against the mundane we fail to settle in. What do you do with that urge to fight, or run, the urge to burn through the world when you’re so used to burning in the defense of life or even in the sullen name of conquest? What do you do with all that anger when you’re about to go extinct? You yell to the children of peace: “Run! Fight! Fear for your Life! While you still can!" But you know kids, that shit fell on deaf ears.

"شدلي حالك شوي" - Ibrahim Poulos

شحناء- is the intense hatred that poisons, blinds and distracts the Heart from its Creator, the One, Lord of All Worlds. It obscures the divine beauty around you. This hatred becomes an obsession that consumes and imprisons You. This type of hatred or grudge aims to retribute the wrong doings of the hated; but really hate only eats away at one's own Heart. It's a punishment we give to ourselves for someone else's actions towards us. Not only does it render the hated the master of our own emotions, but it also obstructs our unrestricted expression in the world, and our reception of Nature's expression within us.

Shared Fruits of a Conversation with a Zionist

If Muslim and Christian Palestinians proved to be descendents of ancient Judea's population, would an Israeli state give them back their lands or does the land have to be occupied by a Jewish majority?

The Zionist homie said "no, they don't get their land back zionism is a Jewish state for Jews":

This question clarified for us that Zionist claims on Palestinian lands comes from Jewishness rather than historical residency on the land.

I think the tough sell for Zionists trying to understand why Palestinian liberation doesn’t mean the eradication of Jews, is because it involves a heavy realization. That the Zionist project of colonial settlement, was by design built on unjust grounds. The argument that Israel and its cosmopolitan citizens settling on the land of Palestine is the outcome of a birthright to inhabit this land is not the same claim as their birthright to displace, cleanse and establish a colony in Palestinian homes. Yet, it’s opportunistically treated as the same by the Zionist ideology. For a Zionist trying to understand why the military occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza are fucked up, this realization involves denouncing the legitimacy of a greater Israel whose establishment through conquest is divine and just. To accept that Israeli settlers, military and laws on Palestinian lands outlined by the 1948 and 1967 borders, is wrong, also means acknowledging that the colonial ideology of Zionism that underpins an Israeli state on any Palestinian land, is also wrong. It’s a troublesome realization that you’ve been an occupier and murderer rather than a chosen child of God. The borders of 1948 and 67 are damage control of the original acrimony of British occupation and division of Palestine into two states. They’re not meant as a challenging obstacle Zionists have to overcome to achieve the final solution of Zionism, a greater Jewish state built on top Palestinian homes and culture, on Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian land as well. 

My professor told me it’s counterproductive to call Netenyahu stupid, or evil, or insane. While they might be accurate descriptions, it takes away from the very real logic of domination, colonization, and extermination of his genocidal operation. This fucked with my sleep last night, but it seems Israeli targets know exactly who they’re shooting at. Why wouldn’t they, the IOF’s precision technology is unmatched. 57 journalists, medics, doctors, professors, 75% of 13,000 martyrs were children, women and the elderly. Their target is surely Hamas, they know very well however, that Hamas is an idea, it’s the call to liberation for people in Gaza. Journalists report the truth of oppression, domination, and murder. Medics sustain the population, keep survivors of these attacks alive, their stories and rage against the occupation alive. Professors give hope to Gazans, and expands their realm of possibility, giving rise to future generations of medics, teachers, journalists. An educated population of Gaza doesn’t go down well with an occupation justified by the dehumanization of the irrational Palestinian ‘animal’. This one really hit, they’re targeting schools, and dominantly children. 178 children are dying daily since Oct 7th. Probably because children are their biggest threat. Hamas is an idea, and it’s fuelled by younger generations of Palestinians who grow up with resentment in their heart for all the family they lost to the occupation, the freedom they lost. They’re targeting children because they know very well these children will grow up to fight for their freedom. Their mothers are dying to prevent future generations of Palestinians being born. The elderly are killed to snuff out the memory of a free Palestine. ‘They teach their children to hate Jews, to hate Israel’, no you obtuse fucks, you’re fuelling their desire for rebellion against the occupying power, all by your Zionist selves. This is a war against Hamas, but in the Israeli popular conscience, pronouncedly during this campaign, Hamas IS every Palestinian in Gaza, it IS the hospitals that keep them alive, it IS the truth of occupation and genocide.

Anti-semetism is not Anti-Zionism

Eichman, one of the chief architects of Nazi institutionalized terrorism, was paradoxically invested in the Zionist project and deeply involved in “the organization for illegal immigration into Palestine” (58). In Hertzl’s Der Judenstaat outlining the enterprise of Zionism, Herztl considered two potential homes for the Jewish state. Argentina, “one of the most fertile countries in the world” or Palestine, “the ever-memorable historic home” where the Jewish company would provide “an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism”(Herztl 96). Ever since the early conceptual days of the Zionist movement, the Hebrew verbs le-hitnahel and le-hityashev, “to settle” and “to colonize” were used “to describe the takeover of land in Palestine'' (Pappe 21). Herzl claimed the “name of the settlement was to be ‘New Palestine’" and it was to be “the permanent property of a colonization company created for the purpose” (Herzl 63). 

Equating anti-semitism with anti-zionism is anti-Semitic. Eichman was an anti-semetic zionist, Hertzl was an atheist zionist, and lots of lovely Jews are anti-zionist and very much still semetic. The Israeli state shields itself with its Jewish community at their expense. No world spectator can challenge the moral fabric of an Israeli state without challenging the moral concience of Jews?? No way.

The Haganah and Hamas

The Haganah was a growing militant and civic organization of organized Jews in Palestine under the Ottoman and British Mandates. It would later be known as the Jewish defense forces of Palestine prior to 1945, and then the Israeli Defense Forces after 1948. They answered to the World Zionist Organization. This organizations housed the Zionist Congress founded in 1897 by Theodore Hertzl. It’s proceedings were held in Basel Switzerland. The Zionist project was in the making years before the inception of the state of Israel in 1948. The Congress was in charge of organizing mass Jewish European and North African immigration into Palestine which would later diversify its immigration routes. Prior to the official establishment of Israel in 48, the Hagannah had already begun the process of guerrilla warfare against native Palestinians to conquer and settle the land they were sharing with Jews long before and under British land laws. On the night of Yom Kippur in 46 under the command of the deputy chief of staff of the Haganah Yosef Avidar, the JDP overcame British forces and established 11 settlements in Nagev. At first British forces were their main targets as they were in charge of the land and the protection of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian Palestinian inhabitants of the land. Various acts of domestic terrorism were used, famously the bombing of the British government headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, “raids on British air force bases at Qastina and near Kfar Syrkin, liberation of Jewish prisoners from the prison in Acre, and sabotage of the railroad repair workshop near Haifa.” When the British mandate was released over Palestine and the new found state of Israel was established, their new target was Palestinian mayors and villages. Palestinian forces and Arab countries responded to these violent acts of dispossession in what amounted in the Arab-Israeli war of 47-49. In 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, between 8 and 15,000 military and civilian lives were lost. The immediate goal of the Haganah was to cleanse homes, villages and lands of Palestinians. It was this effort that freed up space for the incoming waves of Jewish immigrants escaping the Holocaust after WW2 seeking haven from European or Arab persecution in the newly founded Jewish homeland. It might be fruitful to note that Arab persecution of Jewish inhabitants was widely dormant until the contentious first Nakba. 

Following this information my homie rushed at the fact the Israeli state was founded with violence and terror "But dude, if you were escaping Nazi Germany, being displace, put into camps, tortured humiliated and dehumanized, wouldn't you do anything you could for freedom?" I said I would, and followed with "now do you see how far a people are willing to go to liberate themselves from tyrants? Hamas isn't all too different after all."