Yahia Lababidi
From Wikiquote
Yahia Lababidi (born 1973) is an Egyptian-Lebanese essayist and poet. He is the author of a new book of 300 original aphorisms, Signposts to Elsewhere [1] selected for 'Books of the Year, 2008' by The Independent newspaper (UK)
Lababidi's essays and poems have appeared in anthologies as well as journals throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East. [2]
[edit] Sourced
- One restless dawn, unable to suppress the itch
of wanderlust, with a heavy door left ajar
semi-deliberately, and a new light teasing inSome piece of immobility will finally quit
suddenly nimble on wooden limbs
as fast as a horse, fleeing the stable.- "Dawning" online at Poet's Encyclopedia
[edit] Signposts to Elsewhere (2008)
Excerpts (aphorisms):
- A good listener is one who helps us overhear ourselves.
- With enigmatic clarity, Life gives us a different answer each time we ask her the same question.
- The thoughts we choose to act upon define us to others, the ones we do not define us to ourselves.
- Temptation: seeds we are forbidden to water, that are showered with rain.
- Impulses we attempt to strangle only develop stronger muscles.
- Ambiguity: the bastard child of creativity and cowardice.
- Truth can be like a large, bothersome fly – brush it away and it returns buzzing.
- In life, as in love, graceful leave-taking is the epitome of gratitude.
- Pleasure may be snatched from life’s clenched fists, not joy
- Miracles are proud creatures; they will not reveal themselves to those who do not Believe.
- To be treated with mercy, some must reveal their handicaps, while others must conceal them.
- To hurry pain is to leave a classroom still in session.
- To prolong pain is to miss the next lesson.
- Like cars in an amusement park, our direction is often determined through collisions.
- The personal made universal is art’s truth.
- Take two opposites, connect the dots, and you have a straight line.
- Intensity: vast emotions condensed.
- Life: a midway point between two unknowns.
- Wit: the pounce of a restless insight.
- Romantic: one who professes to prefer the thorns to the rose.
