Daily Quotable- Conrad

A quote from my days as an English major:
"I tried to break the spell--the heavy, mute spell of the wilderness--that
seemed to draw him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and
brutal instincts, by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions. This
alone, I was convinced, had driven him out to the edge of the forest, to the
bush, towards the gleam of fires, the throb of drums, the drone of weird
incantations; this alone had beguiled his unlawful soul beyond the bounds of
permitted aspirations."
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Diplomats Daily Quotable- N

 Notes:  Diplomat's write Notes, because they wouldn't have the nerve to tell the same things to each other's face."  -Will Rogers 1949

Nuance:  "Truth and wisdom lie in nuances."         -Ernest Renan, french philosopher and write (author of What is a Nation)

Negotiability:  "What's mine is mine, what's yours is negotiable."        -Attitude attributed to Soviet negotiators. 

Poet of the Week from Morocco: Ali Squali Houssaini

Poet of the Week from Morocco: Ali Squali Houssaini


Written by Ali Squali Houssaini in 1970 (although a version of it was around even while Morocco was still a french protectorate up until 1956)

Hymne Cherifien (Hymn of the Sharif)

Fountain of Freedom,
Rising Place of the Light.
Forum of Independence and its protector.
Long live as the Forum of Independence and as its protector.
Long live among homelands,
As their emblem
Filling all hearts.
With memory for all languages,
With the spirit,
With the body,
Give to your son
Who answered your call,
With my mouth and with my blood.
Your love was stirred up as light and fire.
Let’s go brothers!
Running for the summit!
Make the world witness,
That we here live
With an emblem of:
God, homeland and king.


Past Poets of the Week:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/05/african-poets-of-week-compilation.html

Some of my favorite poetry books: