For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrowest allegiances. And it is also the way we look at them that may set them free.
Interpretation
Our perceptions shape others' identities and possibilities.
Amin Maalouf's quote suggests that the way we perceive and judge others can confine them to limited roles or identities defined by our narrow perspectives. Conversely, if we view them with empathy and openness, we can empower them to break free from societal constraints and realize their true potential.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about social justice and the importance of perspective.
The identity cannot be compartmentalized; it cannot be split in halves or thirds, nor have any clearly defined set of boundaries. I do not have several identities, I only have one, made of all the elements that have shaped its unique proportions.
We are not just visitors on this planet, it belongs to us just as we belong to her, its past is ours, so is its future.
What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself
During my youth, the idea of moving from Lebanon was unthinkable. Then I began to realise I might have to go, like my grandfather, uncles and others who left for America, Egypt, Australia, Cuba.
Let your tears roll tonight, but tomorrow you will start the battle again. What defeats us, always, is just our own sorrow.
A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words. Those that seem clearest are often the most treacherous.
We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.
There is a lack of critical assessment of the past. But you have to understand that the current ruling elite is actually the old ruling elite. So they are incapable of a self-critical approach to the past.
It's gotten to a point where everybody is concerned about their rights and nobody is concerned about their duties.
And there, right in the middle of it, I find 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.' There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven.
My theory is that many of the things that move us are things we long for but find hard to do.
Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.
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