A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Everybody in Palestine is a politician, and everybody in Palestine has a better vision than all the political leaders.
Abed Hamdan
Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.
Emily Dickenson, American poet
I hope I could have more time to write love poems only, because I feel it, and I want it, and I need it. But you can’t be concentrated in love poems when your life is threatened. You have, first of all, to defend your life, your existence.
Samih Al-Qasim, Palestinian poet
All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values…and I say let’s get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old fashioned Constitution of the United States – and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. American Writer
I prefer the ideas from the small groups. From small factions, from a small organization, from the left, progressive forces, from humanitarian forces to meet together and fight the same enemy which is imperialism, and imperialism you have two sides you have the side that is not your enemy and you have the side that [...]
I am not asking people to empathise with anything; this is not a demand or a desire. The first thing for the spectator to do is have pleasure. The fact that they go and aestheticise a life beyond the film is for me an expression of support for the Palestinian people. I feel Israel is [...]
Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
A generation of Palestinian children face the danger of being psychologically damaged beyond repair unless there is sufficient urgent psychological intervention and an improvement in the political, social and economic conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Marwan Diab, Psychologist of the Gaza Community Health Programme
Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless.
Leo Tolstoy, (1828-1910), On Life [...]
