Ameen Rihani
Ameen Rihani
Ameen Rihani, was a Lebanese Arab-American writer, intellectual and political activist. He was also a major figure in the mahjar literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, and an early theorist of Arab nationalism. He became an American citizen in 1901...
NationalityLebanese
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth24 November 1876
CountryLebanon
pursuit-of-happiness views justice
To us all, life is a gift, liberty is a right, and the pursuit of happiness is the object supreme. But our conduct in the pursuit differs in accordance with the measure of justice we uphold. A common measure is only possible when we begin to understand and learn to appreciate each other's point of view and point of direction.
war golf play
A poet is a poet, whether he rides in a Ford or on a donkey; a sage is a sage, whether he plays golf in New Jersey or bathes in the Ganges, or prays in the desert; and a fool is a fool, whether he be a maharaja or a president of a post-war republic.
boundaries breasts no-boundaries
No boundaries exist in our breast: We are free .
doe matter ideals
Like matter itself, an ideal is mutable, but indestructible. It does not die; it only undergoes a change.
assuming embrace renounce
I renounce falsehood, whatsoever be the guise it assumes, and I embrace truth, wheresoever I find it.
government soul mind
I am for reformation by emigration. The emigration of the mind before the revolution of the state. The soul and mind must be free before one has a right to be a member of a free government.
light three source
Light, Love, and Will - the one is as necessary as the other; the one is dangerous without the others. Light, Love, and Will are the three eternal, vital sources of the higher, truer, purer cosmic life.
culture spirit commerce
Foreign culture is as necessary to the spirit of a nation as is foreign commerce to its industries.
pride virtue cease
Virtue, once bragged about, once you pride yourself upon it, ceases to be such.
culture degrees unfinished
Our Phoenician ancestors never left anything they undertook unfinished. Consider what they accomplished in their days, and the degree of culture they attained.
triumph defeat what-is-life
What is life without its angles of difficulty and defeat, and its tip of triumph and power?
home order giving
True knowledge is power; but in order to feel at home with it, we must be constitutionally qualified. And if we are not, it is likely to give the soul such a twist as to deform it forever.
causes persons assistance
If I were capable of assisting someone, I would do it in a manner that would cause the person seeking assistance to work, so he assists himself.
spiritual people inspire
If I had in me something that inspires people towards the good and raises them one step on the ladder of mental and spiritual progress, I want to show it by example, indication, and deduction, not by preaching, threatening, and conspiring.