Everywhere, people show a face that is new, but at the same time basically the same. People are a mass of feelings, inclinations and ambitions, fluct… - Fadwa Tuqan

Science and art are two separate tendencies, each representing a significant aspect of human enterprise. In general, art in all its branches is one of the vital manifestations of life and its true expression. It is futile to advocate repressing it for it is something that will never die until all life on earth is extinct.
It is wrong for us Arabs to call a halt to literature, ignoring, or ignorant of the fact that future enterprises in any nation are directed and outlined first and foremost by its literature. The way to a conscious revolt and struggle for a free, decent life is paved by literature. Through literature and art, in general, pride is awakened, ambitions are enhanced, and a psychological boost given to the morale of the citizens of a nation...A nation whose literature has become dry and sterile cannot determine what is best for itself or for humanity, no matter how high it climbs on the ladder of scientific development. (p182-3)

In school I was able to discover some parts of my lost self. There I established myself as a person, something I had not been able to do at home. (p45)

Annihilation is, indeed, part of our being, but art is immortal. A sense of the tyranny of annihilation and the ephemeral quality of life always prompts the artist to create something more permanent then the self. (p188)