Monday, November 15, 2010

Not even close !

Definitions:

Nation: A politically unified people occupying a definite territory

Nation: A large group of people of the same race who share the same language, traditions and history, but who might not all live in one area.


And since, we Lebanese are convinced that God has given us the gift to surpass all other nations with our intellect and wit; I will leave it up to you, my fellow "chosen people" to pick which quote you deem is most suitable:

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on”. J.F.K

"Nations do not think, they only feel. They get their feelings at second hand through their temperaments, not their brains. A nation can be brought -- by force of circumstances, not argument -- to reconcile itself to any kind of government or religion that can be devised; in time it will fit itself to the required conditions; later it will prefer them and will fiercely fight for them." Mark Twain

"There was never a nation that became great until it came to the knowledge that it had nowhere in the world to go for help." Charles Dudley Warner

"Nations! What are nations? Tartars! and Huns! and Chinamen! Like insects they swarm. The historian strives in vain to make them memorable. It is for want of a man that there are so many men. It is individuals that populate the world." Henry David Thoreau

"If there be no nobility of descent in a nation, all the more indispensable is it that there should be nobility of ascent -- a character in them that bear rule, so fine and high and pure, that as men come within the circle of its influence, they involuntarily pay homage to that which is the one pre-eminent distinction, the Royalty of Virtue." Henry Codman Potter

"The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence." Aldous Huxley

"The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind." Marcus Tullius Cicero

"A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity." Jimmy Carter

"The country has charms only for those not obliged to stay there." Edouard Manes

"As long as I have any choice, I will stay only in a country where political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule." Albert Einstein

"The nations morals are like its teeth, the more decayed they are the more it hurts to touch them." George Bernard Shaw

And now that you have taken the time (and if you actually did) to read all of the above, do make your pick as to what you think reflects the current situation.

Somehow for me, nothing applies for we as Lebanese have yet to indintefy with our motherland first before we can claim identity.

Tfeh!

2 comments:

Courtney said...

I stumbled across your blog when researching Lebanon's political and ethnic history for a paper on a type of political theory. I find your perspective on the Lebanese national identity (or lack thereof) extremely interesting. I hope for all the best with your heritage - never give up hope!

Marillionlb said...

Thank you Courtney for your kind words. Unfortunately hope is slowly fading.