Words of wisdom, quotes and inspiring thoughts… I will be constantly updating this page, so stay tuned!
“You never conquer a mountain. Mountains can’t be conquered you conquer yourself–your hopes, your fears.” Jim Whitaker
“You progress not through improving what has been done, but reaching toward what has yet to be done.” Kahlil Gibran
“You say that in heaven there is eternal beauty. The eternal beauty is here and now, not in heaven.” Osho
”You see things; and you say ‘why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘why not?’ “. Luigi Pirandello
“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” — H.I.M. Haile Selassie I
“When a truly great and unique spirit speaks , the lesser ones must be silent.” Franz Kappus
“The more uninspiring your origins the more likely you are to use your imagination and invent worlds where everything seems possible,” Howard Schultz
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth,” Mahatma Gandhi
“An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind. ” Gibran Kahlil Gibran
”We wish to declare before the world the importance of Lebanon, its historical mission, accomplished down the centuries. A country of many religious faiths, Lebanon has shown that these different faiths can live together in peace, brotherhood and cooperation.” Late Pope John Paul II.
”Lebanon is more than a country. It is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West.” Late Pope John Paul II.
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” Gibran Kahlil Gibran
You know you are Lebanese when more than half of these apply to you.
You make Turkish coffee before leaving home, when getting to the office, after lunch, when having guests, before the guests leave, after the guests leave and before going to bed.
When shops have sale they call your mom.
You call an older person you’ve never met before “Ammo” or “Khaltu”.
You hide everything from your parents, but they still think they know everything about you, and make you believe that they actually do.
People are never happy with what you’ve achieved. If you graduated from school they’ll tell you “Oqbal el Shahadeh el kbeereh”, and when u get that “Oqbal el Aroos or Areees”, and when you get that “Oqbal ma nefrah be aoulad-kum”, and when you get that “Oqbal ma tefrahu bi shahadit-hum”, etc…
If you are a boy you start worrying about the Swiss Mukhabarat when you reach puberty.
Getting a visa to Europe or the States is like getting a baby, everybody tells you “mabrook”
You learn how to beg the personnel at the airport to allow the excess baggage you’ve got as soon as your father stops doing that for you.
You dream of holding a different passport.
When you FLY BACK home you find 20 people waiting for you at the airport.
Every time you fly back home you meet relatives you never knew existed, and they look nothing like your family.
You look for universities as far away from home as possible.
You always curse at Lebanese when you are back home, but when you live abroad you mostly make Lebanese friends.
When you come back from University you still have to live with your parents, and fight over curfew all over again, as if you never left them before.
Your relatives alone could populate a small city.
Everyone is a family friend.
You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
You teach Westerners to swear words in your language.
When you go on a date you start thinking of lousy places where nobody would go to so you won’t bump into family or friends.
You end up in a lousy place and still bump into the relative with the biggest mouth.
You think you are liberated when you can’t even smoke in public.
If you are 25 and not married yet, your parents make you feel that you are getting too old.
Getting married becomes the only way you can escape your parents.
You tell your friends how to rebel against their parents when you can’t even stay out past midnight.
You always say, “Open the light” instead of “Turn the light on” or “get down from the car” instead of “get out of the car.”
You pronounce your p’s as b’s (bebsi and bolice).
You ask your dad a simple question and he tells you a story of how he had to walk miles just to get to school.
Your parents were ranked first in school.
Your dad swears at you with words that affect him. (Ibnil kalb)
You tell everyone that you are a “successful businessman back home” when you are really just an unemployed goat herder.
You feel uncomfortable saying the word ‘tease’ in English.
You eat mensef with your bare hands.
You smoke as if there is no tomorrow and you only smoke MARLBORO REDS.
You only walk on the streets in groups of seven or more people and talk really really loud in Lebanese together.
You wear a black leather jacket, even when it is 100 degrees outside.
You think its cool to dance and smoke at the same time.
If you are a Lebanese girl you give the look of death to another Lebanese girl who looks better than you.
Your aunt is always asking when she can dance at your wedding.
When you share your problems with your relatives, their most likely response is: Allah Be Yefrejha.
Dona
i think this is hilarious, although i don’t agree with many of it:
We dont eat Mensef in Lebanon, it is a jordanian/palestinian dish
the first time i ever ate with my bare hands was when i went to Qatar in 2004 and tried the traditional dish there,i also tried Mensef there. Eating with bare hands in Lebanon is not a custom.
As for the rest of the points, they summarize my love/hate relationship with a country full of contradictions!
I always thought “An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind.” is for Gandhi. Could you give please the source of your information regarding this quote?
I read it from a series of quotes by Gibran Khalil Gibran, i will definitely double check that and get back to you.
I double checked the source of the quote and it seems that Ghandi, Gibran khalil Gibran and Martin Luther King all said some version of this quote. Voila!
Love your blog!
Thanks Joumana…I loved your website….your images are very very appetizing!
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there is a spirit in lebanon, which makes u happy all the times, with all the problems there, but lebanon is different, no one can feel lonely in it, its my country, although i hate all the politicians there, but i adore my lebanon, i miss my lebanon, and sure ill go back as soon as i can….all what was written is bullshit, all are jeaulouse from lebanon, plus we have family relation not like other countries all is selfish and dont care for no one, even their children, yes this is lebanon, even if u r poor, u can still live, plus we have the freedon that no other counties has…. habibi lebanon………..nada
Carla, you nailed it. I have been away from Lebanon for 13 years but your blog have brought so much memories to me lol really thank you!
bas ma 7ada mitil el libneiniyin… ad ma mnib3od alibna bidal bi libnein…
Hahaha…I came here looking for some love quotes to say to my Lebanese girlfriend….but after reading this I think I will find an Australian girlfriend instead….
Just kidding…I’d gladly accept all the above just to hear her voice again and just to see her smile again.
Thanks for the insight 😉
Some of my personal fav..
There are times when I cant decide
whether to see you or not,
I want to see you because I miss you
but there are times when
I dont want to see you because everytime I do,
the fact that you dont see me the way
that I see you hurts me even more …
Relationships are like snapshots;
some you remember and some you forget,
but some you never develop
and you never get to see how
they would have turned out.
love quotes
we can actually relate to a quite a few of those observations, however most of them are just ignorant generalisations.