“I don’t want to impress people I wouldn’t cross the road to talk to. I want there to be a strict door policy at my club. I want to go, “You can’t come in. You won’t like this. And I don’t want you to like it.” -Ricky Gervais

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

-Goethe

the pens have been lifted, the pages have dried

عن أبي العباس عبد الله بن عباس رضي الله عنه
قال كنت خلف النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يوماً فقال:

يا غلام ، إني أُعلمك كلمات :
احفظ الله يحفظك
احفظ الله تجده تجاهك ،
إذا سأَلت فاسأَل الله ،
وإذا استعنت فاستعن بالله ،
واعلم أن الأُمة لو اجتمعت على أَن ينفعـوك بشيء ،
لم ينفعوك إلا بشيء قد كتبه الله لك ،
وإن اجتمعوا على أن يضروك بشيء ،
لم يضروك إلا بشيء قد كتبه الله عليك،

رفعت الأقلام وجفت الصحف

رواه الترمذي وقال : حديث حسن صحيح

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Abu al-Abbas ibn Abdullah bin Abbas reported,

One day I was behind the Prophet (pbuh) and he said to me:

O young man, I shall teach you some words (of advice):
Be mindful of Allah and he will protect you
Be mindful of Allah and he will find Him in front of you
If you (have need to) ask, ask of Allah;
If you seek help, seek help of Allah.
Know that if all the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with something,
they would not benefit you with anything
except that which Allah has already recorded of you,
and if they gather together to harm you with something,
they would not be able to harm you with anything
except that which Allah has already recorded against you.

The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried

Al-Tirmidhi relates this and says: good, genuine Hadith

Hibernating

Passengers originally uploaded by naughton321

“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, & you believe you are living. Then you read a book, or you take a trip, & you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous & might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. & then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, & it awakens them & saves them from death.”
-Anais Nin

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."
-George Bernard Shaw

Dear Kuwait,
You dodged a bullet. Now, it seems like you need to work on your self-esteem. We deserve better than those currently seated in Parliament. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.
XOXO,
G.

" The real test of friendship is: can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple"
Eugene Kennedy