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“We are often given pills or fluids to help remedy illness, yet little has been taught to us about the power of smell to do the exact same thing. It is known that the scent of fresh rosemary increases memory, but this cure for memory loss is not divulged by doctors to help the elderly. I also know that the most effective use of the blue lotus flower is not from its dilution with wine or tea �� but from its scent. To really maximize the positive effects of the blue lily (or the pink lotus), it must be sniffed within minutes of plucking. This is why it is frequently shown being sniffed by my ancient ancestors on the walls of temples and on papyrus. Even countries across the Orient share the same imagery. The sacred lotus not only creates a relaxing sensation of euphoria, and increases vibrations of the heart, but also triggers genetic memory - and good memory with an awakened heart ushers wisdom.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Sheftu,�� she whispered, “it's all over.��
“Nay, little one. It's just beginning. Many things are beginning.”
― Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Mara, Daughter of the Nile

“The desert shatters the soul's arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert we trust God or die.”
― Dan B. Allender, The Healing Path

“When you fear nothing, you have nothing to fear”
― S.F. Chandler, We the Great Are Misthought

“WHO AM I?

I have seven heavenly panels
Leading up to a pointed sphere
I’m multidimensional like a crystal
And my center is never clear.

I’m an inventor and pioneer.
A mentor to my peers.
But I'm not as sound as my shell reveals,
Because I’m tormented by my fears -
That may appear to be grounded
But my insides are filled with tears.
And the sadness is well-founded,
From years and years
Of traumatic experiences
Compounded
In the most demented
Atmospheres.

I talk but feel like nobody hears.

Has reason disappeared?
And, God, are you near?

This is Giza’s 7th light force
And I'm asking you to interfere.
I can no longer walk amongst the blind and dead
With open eyes and ears.
I’m trying to maintain my sanity
And to straighten up my veneer
As I roll amongst the growing calamities
Flowing on Earth’s severely trashed
Frontier.



Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun (2010)”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“And barbarians were inventors not only of philosophy, but almost of every art. The Egyptians were the first to introduce astrology among men. Similarly also the Chaldeans. The Egyptians first showed how to burn lamps, and divided the year into twelve months, prohibited intercourse with women in the temples, and enacted that no one should enter the temples from a woman without bathing. Again, they were the inventors of geometry. There are some who say that the Carians invented prognostication by the stars. The Phrygians were the first who attended to the flight of birds. And the Tuscans, neighbours of Italy, were adepts at the art of the Haruspex. The Isaurians and the Arabians invented augury, as the Telmesians divination by dreams. The Etruscans invented the trumpet, and the Phrygians the flute. For Olympus and Marsyas were Phrygians. And Cadmus, the inventor of letters among the Greeks, as Euphorus says, was a Phoenician; whence also Herodotus writes that they were called Phoenician letters. And they say that the Phoenicians and the Syrians first invented letters; and that Apis, an aboriginal inhabitant of Egypt, invented the healing art before Io came into Egypt. But afterwards they say that Asclepius improved the art. Atlas the Libyan was the first who built a ship and navigated the sea. Kelmis and Damnaneus, Idaean Dactyli, first discovered iron in Cyprus. Another Idaean discovered the tempering of brass; according to Hesiod, a Scythian. The Thracians first invented what is called a scimitar (arph), -- it is a curved sword, -- and were the first to use shields on horseback. Similarly also the Illyrians invented the shield (pelth). Besides, they say that the Tuscans invented the art of moulding clay; and that Itanus (he was a Samnite) first fashioned the oblong shield (qureos). Cadmus the Phoenician invented stonecutting, and discovered the gold mines on the Pangaean mountain. Further, another nation, the Cappadocians, first invented the instrument called the nabla, and the Assyrians in the same way the dichord. The Carthaginians were the first that constructed a triterme; and it was built by Bosporus, an aboriginal. Medea, the daughter of Æetas, a Colchian, first invented the dyeing of hair. Besides, the Noropes (they are a Paeonian race, and are now called the Norici) worked copper, and were the first that purified iron. Amycus the king of the Bebryci was the first inventor of boxing-gloves. In music, Olympus the Mysian practised the Lydian harmony; and the people called Troglodytes invented the sambuca, a musical instrument. It is said that the crooked pipe was invented by Satyrus the Phrygian; likewise also diatonic harmony by Hyagnis, a Phrygian too; and notes by Olympus, a Phrygian; as also the Phrygian harmony, and the half-Phrygian and the half-Lydian, by Marsyas, who belonged to the same region as those mentioned above. And the Doric was invented by Thamyris the Thracian. We have heard that the Persians were the first who fashioned the chariot, and bed, and footstool; and the Sidonians the first to construct a trireme. The Sicilians, close to Italy, were the first inventors of the phorminx, which is not much inferior to the lyre. And they invented castanets. In the time of Semiramis queen of the Assyrians, they relate that linen garments were invented. And Hellanicus says that Atossa queen of the Persians was the first who composed a letter. These things are reported by Seame of Mitylene, Theophrastus of Ephesus, Cydippus of Mantinea also Antiphanes, Aristodemus, and Aristotle and besides these, Philostephanus, and also Strato the Peripatetic, in his books Concerning Inventions. I have added a few details from them, in order to confirm the inventive and practically useful genius of the barbarians, by whom the Greeks profited in their studies. And if any one objects to the barbarous language, Anacharsis says, "All the Greeks speak Scythian to me." [...]”
― Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, Books 1-3

“Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.”
― C.L. Parker, Playing Dirty

“She comes closer to me. She is beautiful, in the way lightning striking across a storm-swept sky is beautiful: dangerous and distant.”
― Kate Rooper

“What I mean �� and I ought to know if any one does! �� is that while most countries give, others take away. Egypt changes you. No one can live here and remain exactly what he was before.��
This puzzled me. It startled, too, again. His manner was so earnest. “And Egypt, you mean, is one of the countries that take away?�� I asked. The strange idea unsettled my thoughts a little.
“First takes away from you,�� he replied, “but in the end takes you away. Some lands enrich you,�� he went on, seeing that I listened, “while others impoverish. From India, Greece, Italy, all ancient lands, you return with memories you can use. From Egypt you return with �� nothing. Its splendour stupefies; it’s useless. There is a change in your inmost being, an emptiness, an unaccountable yearning, but you find nothing that can fill the lack you’re conscious of. Nothing comes to replace what has gone. You have been drained.’��
I stared; but I nodded a general acquiescence. Of a sensitive, artistic temperament this was certainly true, though by no means the superficial and generally accepted verdict. The majority imagine that Egypt has filled them to the brim. I took his deeper reading of the facts. I was aware of an odd fascination in his idea.
“Modern Egypt,�� he continued, “is, after all, but a trick of civilisation,�� and there was a kind of breathlessness in his measured tone, “but ancient Egypt lies waiting, hiding, underneath. Though dead, she is amazingly alive. And you feel her touching you. She takes from you. She enriches herself. You return from Egypt �� less than you were before.��
What came over my mind is hard to say. Some touch of visionary imagination burned its flaming path across my mind. I thought of some old Grecian hero speaking of his delicious battle with the gods �� battle in which he knew he must be worsted, but yet in which he delighted because at death his spirit would join their glorious company beyond this world. I was aware, that is to say, of resignation as well as resistance in him. He already felt the effortless peace which follows upon long, unequal battling, as of a man who has fought the rapids with a strain beyond his strength, then sinks back and goes with the awful mass of water smoothly and indifferently �� over the quiet fall.”
― Charles Robert Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer

“Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh would be resurrected, but they did not accept the resurrection of the mases”
― Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

“إن الإنسان يصبح بطول العمر عادة محبوبة يتعذّر تصوّر الدنيا بغيرها”
― نجيب محفوظ, الحرافيش

“Women often find great roles in revolution, simply because the rules fall apart and everyone has agency, anyone can act. As they did in Egypt, where liberty leading the masses was an earnest young woman in a black hijab.”
― Rebecca Solnit, The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness

“This is indeed a funny country. Yesterday, for example, we were in a cafe which is one of the best in Cairo, and there were, at the same time as ourselves, inside, a donkey shitting, and a gentleman who was pissing in a corner. No one finds that odd; no one says anything.”
― Gustave Flaubert, Flaubert in Egypt

“I was born in a slum, but the slum wasn't born in me.”
― Jesse Jackson

“Do you really think that Tutankhamen would have taken a chance on some pale girl with pretty eyes had you not been the priestess of Anubis?��
“You did.�� The words fall out of me.
“W�󲹳�?��
I look up at him. “You took a chance on me.�� I sit up, breath heavy in my throat. “When I was nothing but a dead, lost thing.”
― Leah Rooper, Jane Unwrapped

“Biblia pamoja na historia vinatwambia kuwa mitume kumi na wawili wa Yesu Kristo waliamua kufa kinyama kama mfalme wao alivyokufa, kwa sababu walikataa kukana imani yao juu ya Yesu Kristo.

Mathayo alikufa kwa ajili ya Ukristo nchini Ethiopia kwa jeraha lililotokana na kisu kikali, Marko akavutwa na farasi katika mitaa ya Alexandria nchini Misri mpaka akafa, kwa sababu alikataa kukana jina la Yesu Kristo.

Luka alinyongwa nchini Ugiriki kwa sababu ya kuhubiri Injili ya Yesu Kristo katika nchi ambapo watu hawakumtambua Yesu.

Yohana alichemshwa katika pipa la mafuta ya moto katika kipindi cha mateso makubwa ya Wakristo nchini Roma, lakini kimiujiza akaponea chupuchupu, kabla ya kufungwa katika gereza la kisiwa cha Patmo (Ugiriki) ambapo ndipo alipoandika kitabu cha Ufunuo. Mtume Yohana baadaye aliachiwa huru na kurudi Uturuki, ambapo alimtumikia Bwana kama Askofu wa Edessa. Alikufa kwa uzee, akiwa mtume pekee aliyekufa kwa amani.

Petro alisulubiwa kichwa chini miguu juu katika msalaba wa umbo la X kulingana na desturi za kikanisa za kipindi hicho, kwa sababu aliwaambia maadui zake ya kuwa alijisikia vibaya kufa kama alivyokufa mfalme wake Yesu Kristo.

Yakobo ndugu yake na Yesu (Yakobo Mkubwa), kiongozi wa kanisa mjini Yerusalemu, alirushwa kutoka juu ya mnara wa kusini-mashariki wa hekalu aliloliongoza la Hekalu Takatifu (zaidi ya futi mia moja kwenda chini) na baadaye kupigwa kwa virungu mpaka akafa, alipokataa kukana imani yake juu ya Yesu Kristo.

Yakobo mwana wa Zebedayo (Yakobo Mdogo) alikuwa mvuvi kabla Yesu Kristo hajamwita kuwa mchungaji wa Injili yake. Kama kiongozi wa kanisa hatimaye, Yakobo aliuwawa kwa kukatwa kichwa mjini Yerusalemu. Afisa wa Kirumi aliyemlinda Yakobo alishangaa sana jinsi Yakobo alivyolinda imani yake siku kesi yake iliposomwa. Baadaye afisa huyo alimsogelea Yakobo katika eneo la mauti. Nafsi yake ilipomsuta, alijitoa hatiani mbele ya hakimu kwa kumkubali Yesu Kristo kama kiongozi wa maisha yake; halafu akapiga magoti pembeni kwa Yakobo, ili na yeye akatwe kichwa kama mfuasi wa Yesu Kristo.

Bartholomayo, ambaye pia alijulikana kama Nathanali, alikuwa mmisionari huko Asia. Alimshuhudia Yesu mfalme wa wafalme katika Uturuki ya leo.
Bartholomayo aliteswa kwa sababu ya mahubiri yake huko Armenia, ambako inasemekana aliuwawa kwa kuchapwa bakora mbele ya halaiki ya watu iliyomdhihaki.

Andrea alisulubiwa katika msalaba wa X huko Patras nchini Ugiriki. Baada ya kuchapwa bakora kinyama na walinzi saba, alifungwa mwili mzima kwenye msalaba ili ateseke zaidi. Wafuasi wake waliokuwepo katika eneo la tukio waliripoti ya kuwa, alipokuwa akipelekwa msalabani, Andrea aliusalimia msalaba huo kwa maneno yafuatayo: "Nimekuwa nikitamani sana na nimekuwa nikiitegemea sana saa hii ya furaha. Msalaba uliwekwa wakfu na Mwenyezi Mungu baada ya mwili wa Yesu Kristo kuning’inizwa juu yake." Aliendelea kuwahubiria maadui zake kwa siku mbili zaidi, akiwa msalabani, mpaka akaishiwa na nguvu na kuaga dunia.

Tomaso alichomwa mkuki nchini India katika mojawapo ya safari zake za kimisionari akiwa na lengo la kuanzisha kanisa la Yesu Kristo katika bara la India.

Mathiya alichaguliwa na mitume kuchukua nafasi ya Yuda Iskarioti, baada ya kifo cha Yuda katika dimbwi la damu nchini India. Taarifa kuhusiana na maisha na kifo cha Mathiya zinachanganya na hazijulikani sawasawa. Lakini ipo imani kwamba Mathiya alipigwa mawe na Wayahudi huko Yerusalemu, kisha akauwawa kwa kukatwa kichwa.

Yuda Tadei, ndugu yake na Yesu, aliuwawa kwa mishale alipokataa kukana imani yake juu ya Yesu Kristo.

Mitume walikuwa na imani kubwa kwa sababu walishuhudia ufufuo wa Yesu Kristo, na miujiza mingine. Biblia ni kiwanda cha imani. Tunapaswa kuiamini Biblia kama mitume walivyomwamini Yesu Kristo, kwa sababu Biblia iliandikwa na mitume.”
― Enock Maregesi

“What exactly was it about Egypt that encouraged women rulers to set their caps so high? The historian Herodotus proposed that things were just different there: 'The people, in most of their manners and customs, exactly reverse the common practice of mankind. For example women attend the markets and trade, while men sit at home at the loom..., Women urinate standing up, men sitting down....”
― Kris Waldherr, Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di by Kris Waldherr

“Robert explained how much simpler it was to pay money for things than to exchange them as the people were doing in the market. Later on the soldier gave the coins to his captain, who, later still, showed them to Pharaoh, who of course kept them and was much struck with the idea. That was really how coins first came to be used in Egypt. You will not believe this, I daresay, but really, if you believe the rest of the story, I don't see why you shouldn't believe this as well.”
― E. Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet

“الشوك هو المسئولية وفاكهة الحكم في مصر لم يكن لها شوك ولا نوى”
― توفيق الحكيم, شجرة الحكم

“I could have killed you,�� I snarl.
“You think you can become a god. You always meddle and change and create. No, that is not the way. What is shall always be. What is known shall always stand.��
“Then you’ve never been in a laboratory!”
― Kate Rooper, Jane Unwrapped

“From beneath the folds of his robes, he reveals a small steel dagger. “You have tempted fate so many times already and still yield to it. Time for history to rewrite itself. Time for Tutankhamen to have a new ending.�� Aten holds the hilt out to me.
I stare at the dagger. The hilt is bronze, carved with sun discs that glow when they catch the sun. “What do you want me to do with that?��
Aten smiles a white, gaping grin. “Kill Tutankhamen and carve out his heart.”
― Kate Rooper, Jane Unwrapped

“Bernice III was the first queen of Egypt to rule without a consort in over a millennium. Though her reign was brief, her example inspired her descendant Cleopatra to rule alone.”
― Kris Waldherr, Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di by Kris Waldherr

“Apollodorus came, Caesar saw, Cleopatra conquered.”
― Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra: A Life

“وعلى طول الطريق من الإسكندرية إلى القاهرة، كان جنود الراية مثلثة الألوان يواصلون مهمتهم التعليمية و رسالتهم التحضيرية!
"يقول الجاويش فرانسوا: إن قرية رفضت إمداد الفرنسيين بالبضائع التي طلبوها فضُرِب أهلها بحد السيف و أُحرِقت بالنار، و ذُبح و أُحِرق ٩٠٠ رجل و امرأة و طفل، ليكونوا عبرة لشعب همجي نصف متوحش.”
― محمد جلال كشك

“رغم كل البيانات و المنشورات و التحليلات التي صاحبت و أعقبت الحملة الفرنسية (إلى يومنا هذا) ... فإن نابليون كان صريحا و واضحا في تحديد مهمته في مصر، عندما قال: "سأستعمر مصر"! "سأستعمر مصر، و أستورد الفنانين و العمال من جميع الأنواع و النساء الممثلين. إن ست سنوات تكفيني للذهاب إلى الهند لو سارت الأمور سيرا طيبا"

و لو سارت الأمور سيرا طيبا و حتى دون الوصول إلى الهند، لكان نابليون قد استورد المزيد من العمال و النساء .. ثم الفلاحين. و لكانت مصر قد واجهت مشكلة معمرين أعرق من مشكلة الجزائر بثلث قرن. و هذا المخطط للاستعمار البشري لمصر تحدث عنه نابليون صراحة في مذكراته في "سانت هيلانه"، و هو يتحدث عن أحلامه في مصر. و ما يمكن أن يحدث فيها من رخاء و تقدم بفضل ضبط مياه النيل و تضاعف عدد السكان أربع مرات بفعل المهاجرين الكثيرين من "اليونان و فرنسا و إيطاليا و بولنده و ألمانيا".”
― محمد جلال كشك, ودخلت الخيل الأزهر

“At the beginning, I thought the best Islamic work was in Spain - the mosque in Cordoba, the Alhambra in Granada. But as I learned more, my ideas shifted. I traveled to Egypt, and to the Middle East many times.I found the most wonderful examples of Islamic work in Cairo, it turns out. I'd visited mosques there before, but I didn't see them with the same eye as I did this time. They truly said something to me about Islamic architecture.”
― I. M. Pei

“Cairo is in a state of becoming�� We just don't know what it's becoming yet.”
― Daniel Joseph Monti, Michael Ian Borer, Lyn C. Macgregor

“Yusufu alikuwa hohehahe kabla na baada ya kuuzwa na nduguze kama mtumwa nchini Misri. Hakuwa na pesa, hakuwa na elimu, hakujuana na viongozi wa serikali. Lakini kwa vile alikuwa na Mungu, Mungu alimbariki mpaka watu wote wakashangaa. Yusufu alikuwa maskini ili mimi na wewe tuwe na tumaini leo, kwamba tukiwa na Mungu katika maisha yetu hatutatafuta utajiri. Utajiri ndiyo utakaotutafuta sisi.”
― Enock Maregesi

“Don't listen to anyone but me”
― Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

“Flisni te verteten njerezimit
dhe te panjerezishmit do tju sulmojne.
Flisni me kuptim dhe te drejten,
dhe ju do sulmoheni nga te palogjikshmit.
Flisni te verteten dhe ju do te sulmoheni nga genjeshtaret.
Mos flisni absolutisht aspak dhe asgje nuk do te ndryshoje,
dhe absolutisht asgje dhe asnje nuk do te flase.
Por atehere asgje, asnjehere nuk do te ndryshoje .

Suzy Kassem”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem