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
idealists
We are all idealists in that we are ever discontented with the present state of the Ego and the World.
age artists fashion following garments great history poets present priests prophets recognize seasons seldom slant temper true truth turn
Like the seasons of the year, like history, truth also repeats itself. But we seldom recognize it when great poets or true artists - the prophets and the priests of our day - present it to us in garments spick and span, following the fashion of the age, the slant of its fancy, the turn and temper of its mind.
chiefly nations oppressed
Weak and oppressed nations are fundamentally spiritual; strong nations are, as a rule, chiefly materialistic.
allow enter less mystic refuge wire
To be sure, we would not allow the world, if we can help it, to peep into our soul, much less to enter it. Our No-Man's-Land is hedged about with a wire entanglement of insincerities. And often we take refuge in a temperament, a pose, or a mystic mood.
essential reveal sure traits truly trumpet
Not in our make-up, to be sure - not in the pose which is preceded by the tantaras of a trumpet - do the essential traits in our character first reveal themselves. But truly in the little things the real self is exteriorised.
government society
Society may be likened to a rod, which only a just government can balance properly.
bolshevism european oriental
Bolshevism may be Marxian in theory, but it is Hulagoesque in practice. It may be of European descent, but it is Oriental in tradition. Oriental in mood. Oriental in temperament.
born cherish continue failure ideal inner invest noblest
There is no such thing as disappointment for those who continue to cherish the selflessness of which is born the noblest inner self. There is no such thing as failure for those who invest in the potentialities of the Ideal of the Soul.
above ahead below heritage however idealist message primitive races time
An idealist is ahead of his time only in the sense that he is articulate. The same is true of a nation. For even primitive people, even effete races have a message for those above or below them. The heritage of the Ideal, however small can not be exhausted.
autocracy bolshevism few government
Autocracy is a government of the few from above; Bolshevism is a government of the few from below.
develop hidden history nations seed time understand vice
The most important in the history of nations and individuals was once the most trivial, and vice versa. The plebeian, who is called today the 'man in the street,' can never see and understand the significance of the hidden seed of things, which in time must develop or die.
forms futile impulse sublime underlying value various
Deficiencies in individuals, as in States, have their value and import. Indeed, that sublime impulse of perfectibility, always vivacious, always working under various forms and with one underlying purpose, would be futile without them, and fatuous.
altogether learning middle monks people warfare
When learning was monopolized by the monks in the Middle Ages, people specialized only in warfare and statecraft. And even these were not altogether free from the scholastic influence.
race color class
We can not understand each other, if every time we venture out we stick the feather of cocksureness in our caps. No, we can never wholly understand each other, and rise to the level of mutual esteem at least, if we do not invest in that fellow feeling that triumphs over class and creed and race and color.