ويل لأمة تكثر فيها المذاهب والطوائف وتخلو من الدين ، ويل لأمة تلبس مما لاتنسج ، وتأكل مما لاتزرع ، وتشرب مما لاتعصر ، ويل لأمة تحسب المستبد بطلا ، وت… - Kahlil Gibran

In truth we gaze but do not see, and hearken but do not hear; we eat and drink but do not taste. And there lies the difference between Jesus of Nazareth and ourselves. His senses were all continually made new, and the world to Him was always a new world.

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
and eats a bread it does not harvest.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.

إذا كنت لا ترى غير ما يكشف عنه الضوء ولا تسمع غير ما يُعلنُ عنه الصوت، فأنت في الحق لا تبصر ولا تسمع.