21
" Face au questionnement sur l'existence de Dieu, se présentent trois types d'individus honnêtes, le croyant qui dit: «Je ne sais pas mais je crois que oui», l'athée qui dit: «Je ne sais pas mais je crois que non», l'indifférent qui dit : «Je ne sais pas et je m'en moque.»
L'escroquerie commence chez celui qui clame: «Je sais !» Qu'il affirme : «Je sais que Dieu existe» ou «Je sais que Dieu n'existe pas», il outrepasse les pouvoirs de la raison, il vire à l'intégrisme ...
En notre siècle où, comme jadis, on tue au nom de Dieu, il importe de ne pas amalgamer les croyants et les imposteurs : les amis de Dieu restent ceux qui le cherchent, pas ceux qui parlent à Sa place en prétendant L'avoir trouvé. "
― Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt , ليلة النار
29
" As soon as we are alone,...inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering a private room and shutting the door, therefore, does not mean that we immediatel;y shut ou all our iner doubts, anxieities, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when we have removed our outer distraction, we often find that our inner distraction manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important. "
― Henri J.M. Nouwen , Making All Things New and Other Classics
30
" Happiness, she would explain, was when a person felt good, light, creative, content, loving and loved, and free. An unhappy person felt as if there were barriers crushing her desires and the talents she had inside. A happy woman was one who could exercise all kinds of rights, from the right to move to the right to create, compete, and challenge, and at the same time could be loved for doing so. Part of happiness was to be loved by a man who enjoyed your strength and was proud of your talents. Happiness was also about the right to privacy, the right to retreat from the company of others and plunge into contemplative solitude. Or sit by yourself doing nothing for a whole day, and not give excuses or feel guilty about it either. Happiness was to be with loved ones, and yet still feel that you existed as a separate being, that ou were not just there to make them happy. Happiness was when there was a balance between what you gave and what you took. "
― Fatema Mernissi , Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood