Criss Jami's quotations

 

1. To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect.
2. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
3. Question like a child, reason like an adult, and write like a sage.
4. Always seek justice, but love only mercy. 
5. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice.
6. To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.
7. The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.
8. Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths.
9. Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.
10. Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. 
11. The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.
12. When you're the only sane person, you look like the only insane person.
13. If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.
14. Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.
15. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but has its permanent advantages.
16. When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie.
17. A lonely day is God's way of saying that he wants to spend some quality time with you.
18. There are two circumstances that lead to arrogance: one is when you're wrong and you can't face it; the other is when you're right and nobody else can face it.
19. Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.
20. Good work is giving to the poor and the helpless.
21. Everyone has their own ways of expression.
22. Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.
23. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot.
24. In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent.
25. Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions.
26. As long as you're honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not.
27. When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title.
28. It's not at all hard to understand a person; it's only hard to listen without bias.
29. Intelligent people are the ones who don't even need or want to look 'intelligent' anymore.
30. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man's true worth.
31. A rumor is a social cancer: it is difficult to contain and it rots the brains of the masses. The real danger is that so many people find rumors enjoyable. 
32. An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.
33. Fear of judgment is the mark of guilt and the burden of insecurity.
34. Simply minding one's own business is more offensive than being intrusive. 
35. There's nothing more contagious than the laughter of young children; it doesn't even have to matter what they're laughing about.
36. Friends ask you questions; enemies question you.
37. Don't change your mind just because people are offended; change your mind if you're wrong.
38. Create with the heart; build with the mind.
39. When a woman leaves a man she is strong and independent, but when a man leaves a woman he is a pig and a jerk.
40. If ever you feel like an animal among men, be a lion.
41. I would rather be an artist than a leader. Ironically, a leader has to follow the rules.
42. In a world of passive individualists nothing seems worth anything simply because nobody stands for anything. That world has no convictions, no victories, no unions, no heroism, no absolutes, no heartbeat. That world has rigor mortis.
43. The first ingredient to being wrong is to claim that you are right. 
44. A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness.
45. Safety is indeed stability, but it is not progression.
46. Absurdity is the ecstasy of intellectualism.
47. An encouraged person will eventually get his drive from encouragement; he becomes more dependent. A person that never really receives encouragement learns to move out of spite; he becomes more independent.
48. In the land where excellence is commended, not envied, where weakness is aided, not mocked, there is no question as to how its inhabitants are all superhuman.
49. Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food.
50. Confidence turns into pride only when you are in denial of your mistakes.
51. Never rebel for the sake of rebelling, but always rebel for the sake of truth.
52. Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion.
53. Soar with wit. Conquer with dignity. Handle with care.
54. Women rescue men just as much as, if not more than, men rescue women.
55. The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. 
56. In the age of technology there is constant access to vast amounts of information. It is not so much what goes on in the world, it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on.
57. In the fashion industry, everything goes retro except the prices.
58. With too much pride a man cannot learn a thing. 
59. If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it.
60. Whenever we want to combat our enemies, we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives.
61. The role of genius is not to complicate the simple, but to simplify the complicated.
62. Creativity is the highest form of intelligence.
63. I never feel unsafe except for when the majority is on my side.
64. An exceedingly confident student would make a terrible student. Why would he take school seriously when he feels that he can outwit his teachers?
65. Deceit for personal gain is one of history's most recurring crimes. 
66. Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser.
67. The narcissist reconstructs his own law of gravity which states that all things and all creatures must adhere to his personal satisfaction.
68. In a relationship the more you learn about the other person, the more you continue to desire them. 
69. If you're capable of despising your own behavior, you might just love yourself.
70. For a man, his own family or clan is superior to all others.
71. A rebel adult seems like a savior, whereas a rebel child seems like a little devil.
72. Tension, in the long run, is a more dangerous force than any feud known to man.
73. If I were to vote, I would intentionally vote for the goofiest candidate. It is my theory that when the people can outwit the leader, the more respected their voices will be.
74. A child's relentless inquiry reminds us that we don't know as much as we think we know.
75. A man who teaches one truth and nothing else is more righteous than a man who teaches a million truths and one lie.
76. Cleverness isn't always true nor is the truth always clever.
77. Love remains debatable in an opinionated world.
78. God cannot be impressed by mere talents or by mortal achievements. 
79. Humility is ultimately a human being's true greatness.
80. The internet is where some people go to show their true intelligence; others, their hidden stupidity.
81. Everything at some point has been declared the root of all evil.
82. Trustful people are the pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness.
83. It is a noble responsibility to not back down when you know that you know that you are right.
84. People don't care about being duped as long as they're happy.
85. Justice is pure, but vengeance brings more ruin.
86. It's easy to make a mess when you're not the one who has to clean it up.
87. God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in.
88. It is God's will to stand for the weak and question the strong.
89. I pity the man who praises God only when things go his way.
90. There are two kinds of fighters. Those who fight because they hate, and those who fight because they love.
91. Whether you try too hard to fit in or you try too hard to stand out, it is of equal consequence: you exhaust your significance.
92. Who you are in public is a test of your conviction; who you are in private, integrity.
93. If you've done things you aren't proud of means you have a conscience.
94. An insincere critic of a sincere person never wins.
95. Honesty is the best policy, silence is the second best policy.
96. No matter how kind you are, always expect a few imbeciles.
97. Controversy is a last resort for the talentless.
98. Good friends will allow you to be as innocent and free as a child when in private, and as wise and mature as an adult when in public.
99. Tradition requires a wealth of discipline in order to be adhered to.
100. The vanity of intelligence is that the intelligent man is often more committed to 'one-upping' his opponent than being truthful. There is no wisdom in it.
101. The most judgmental people are those who complain most.
102. Be willing to give, but only when you aren't expecting anything in return.
103. Be careful not to appear obsessively intellectual. When intelligence fills up, it overflows a parody.
104. Misguided good men are more dangerous than honest bad men because the mob will always, stubbornly back them without question.
105. It is a healthy approach not to expect persons to turn out precisely how you would have wished.
106. If you assume that the new is always to be better than the old, because it's new, chances are you've never known anything valuable.
107. Law without reason is criminal.
108. Discernment is the son of good judgment and the father of self-control. 
109. Knowing the truth is so minuscule compared to having the nerve to say it and even more to live it.
110. Intelligent people are slow to criticize, but the genuine are slow to fret about being criticized.
111. To be afraid of anything other than God himself is like an insult to God.
112. All individuals have moral deficiencies.
113. I'm not offended until you think I'm offended.
114. Let your confidence reflect your contentedness.
115. Man was designed in which he must eat in order to give him a solid reason to go to work everyday. This helps to keep him out of trouble. 
116. The unteachable man is sentenced to being taught only by experience. 
117. Maturity is defined by the strength of one's character.
118. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs.
119. Unlike wealth, there is an infinite value in legacy.
120. Pride loves being wrong, even when proven wrong, decides to go on being wrong.
121. Instead of laughing at one another, we should laugh with one another as we all dumb down what we don't understand.
122. The more we love God, the more unpleasant sin becomes.
123. A wise man's goal shouldn't be to say something profound, but to say something useful.
124. With no positivity, there is no hope; with no negativity, there is no improvement.
125. Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert.
126. People are equally insecure. They just show it or hide it differently.
127. An assumption is the joke; truth the punchline.
128. No man in this life should ever have to bear the burden of perfection.
129. Only the man who thinks himself a fool is as wise as he thinks.
130. No one is so good that they cannot get any better; no one knows so much that they can know no more.
131. A professional can spot an amateur or a lack of practice or experience a mile away. He is familiar with the common mistakes. He can clearly distinguish the difference between honest critics and mere fools who criticize that which they know nothing.
132. I would be intellectually dishonest to deny the existence of God even for a second.
133. If you don't like the solution, change the problem.
134. I treat my thoughts like an old person treats their valuables: I cannot for the life of me proceed to throwing them out.
135. Great philosophers become immortal as they make undeniable impacts on culture.
136. Everything seems funnier when you're trying to show respect.
137. It is the faith rather than the credentials that really takes you places.
138. The hardest thing for a sane person to do is not care what anyone thinks, hence our glorification of insanity.
139. The height of cleverness is in one's ability to be very clever without seeming clever at all.
140. Envy is a sign of insecurity.
141. You can never make someone like something they don't like, but you can always help them to better understand it.
142. It is not so much freedom of speech but the right to truth that great men protect.
143. Truth is in fact simple, simplicity is still relative.
144. If one should criticize, a meaningful explanation should accompany.
145. A thief is one who insists on sharing his victimhood.
146. There is something wrong if the mother never gets angry; it is safe to say that that is the unloving mother.
147. A poor man who worships the idea of being rich is more vulnerable to its evils than a rich man who has a heart to use it all for the Lord.
148. Where everyone wants to be a leader, it makes one a follower to want to be a leader, and a leader to know what to follow.
149. I suspect that 'Kindness and Cruelty' and 'Mercy and Justice' all have secret affairs, as though they rendezvous only within certain sophisticated souls: those who hate being offensive, but love telling the truth.
150. Even the richest of brands are robbed by poor character.
151. There are two kinds of artists, essentially: those who want to make something popular, and those who want to make something dignified. There is still a rare hybrid case in which one's work becomes both popular and dignified.
152. The hardest chore to do, and to do right, is to think. The common man would choose labor as a distraction from his own thoughts because that level of stress he most absolutely abhors.
153. To esteem what makes you holy over what makes you happy is the greatest dare.
154. I'm always talking to God about whether or not he exists - that's how I know I'm a theist.
155. Trying to be offensive for the sole purpose of being offensive should always deem one the least offensive of offenders.
156. No man voluntarily expresses his opinion without some intent to make a difference, and even if he does, he shouldn't.
157. Extreme right-wingers are known for giving God a bad name; extreme left-wingers are known for giving God a weak name. God is both and neither.
158. Religion, like science, is only noteworthy when it emphasizes a matter of what is true.
159. All things remarkable are surprisingly simple; albeit difficult to find.
160. To be extremely happy but extremely intelligent is a task of being optimistic without being cheesy.
161. Our enemies are quite good for relentlessly keeping us sharp and on our toes. 
162. The philosophers use their enemies to challenge their arguments so that they can know the weak points in their own reasoning and how to argue for and strengthen their position. 
163. People are shallow and ignorant until they go out and see the world.
164. It's fallacious reasoning for the atheist to hate all religion due to men who manipulate religion to fit their own agendas.
165. A theology that has nothing more to offer than what the world already offers, then that theology is impractical and useless.
166. In a society where dirt sells it could be that 100 good deeds happened that day which went unsung.
167. Christianity is at its purest is a philosophy about Jesus Christ, and at its dirtiest is a philosophy about requirements and law.
168. No man who is really ignorant is ever aware that he is ignorant. There can be no true ignorance without a claim of intelligence or consciousness, or superiority or enlightenment.
169. If your doctrine changed for the better yet your character changed for the worse, you changed for the worse.
170. When people bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief.
171. Everything good comes from God, and everything bad comes from man. Everything seemingly good but ultimately bad comes from man, and everything seemingly bad but ultimately good comes from God.
172. Nothing frustrates people more than a cocky guy who's still winning.
173. It seems the silent, humble servant is secretly wiser and more discerning than the haughty master through dutiful surrender he serve and carry out petty orders in loyal acquiescence.
174. It seems God is in the business of teaching winners how to lose and losers how to win.
175. Angels are good not because they see bad as bad, but also because they see bad as corny.
176. Dreams and freedom are the same. In order for them to be, they come with a price.
177. Many things are really so simple we can't see them under our big noses.
178. Man's rebellion against God has always been because he would rather fall in pride than rise in humility.
179. Some people think that simply being nice and not harming others is morality; others think that following rules and tithing are morality.
180. A good work ethic is not so much a concern for hard work but rather one for responsibility. 
181. Many men and women have used work or hustle or selfish ambition as an escape from real responsibility, an escape from purpose. 
182. The best of fiction doesn't tell the truth; it tales the truth.
183. Everybody knows basically what is right and what is wrong. Everybody knows better than to hate others. Most people teach against it, and yet we still see it on the daily. It is because the problem was humans not loving righteousness enough.
184. The denial of truth does not harm the Truth; it only harms that which denies the Truth.
185. The petty man wants to use God for himself; the ambitious man wants God to use him for God.
186. To swear day and night by media slander will make one a bigger victim than the slandered.
187. It seems people don't have the same answers, but in their hearts, they do have the same questions.
188. Unprovoked hostility is displaced self-defense: 'I must stop him before he stops me'.
189. Wisdom without God brings bitterness; with God it brings compassion.
190. Honesty is not the same as truth. A lunatic is the one least concerned of what I think of him, the mark of an honest man. I can always depend on him to be completely honest in what he thinks and feels, about anything, no matter the consequences laid before him, however with no course of rationale, I cannot necessarily take his word for even the well-being of him in his own reality.
191. The creativity of an individual is his ability to tell the truth. It is the fool who creates only his own lies, and the bore who simply repeats what he is told.
192. Every new generation believes its own period to be absolutely superior intellectually - greater than all past cultures yet equal among its modern cultures.
193. The confident man truly sure of himself, is not he who esteems himself higher than others, but he who is sure enough that he can bear to esteem others higher than himself.
194. The survival of poor opinions can make a thinker feel as though he is failing humanity.
195. Divine Law is based solely on love and freedom; whereas secular law, pressure and imitation.
196. The man who sins but wants to purify it is no more a sinner than the man who doesn't sin but wants to sin.
197. There are no keys to success - only tools.
198. Men promise freedom while establishing laws; God promises laws while establishing freedom.
199. Mankind, in all his lusts, punishes himself. The gods have to do very little.
200. False humility is quite like the worst of both worlds: both that of Meekness and that of Conceit.
201. Fashion is simply a guideline for style-less people to appear stylish.
202. Life is about discovering things worth dying for.
203. Because you're always learning, the chief lesson remains: you still know nothing.
204. No villain ever saw himself a villain: he only saw himself a hero; and this goes just as no hero ever saw himself a hero: he simply did what he had to do. No true hero initially sets out with intentions of being deemed a hero.
205. Lean not on your own understanding.
206. Competition works best in sports, but humans get addicted to stuff.
207. The way of the consumerist culture is to spend so much energy chasing happiness that it has none left to be happy.
208. The pride of man hopes to blame God for the evils of the world, and to praise himself for the good.
209. Frequent risk-takers have had their fair shares of failures and successes, hence, being confident in reaching their goals, they will usually seem insensitive to whether or not they look foolish or cool to other people.
210. Pride corrupts truth. 
211. When pride is undeniably found out of an evil, it saves face by doubling down.
212. Today's zealots are mostly those pretending to be anti-religious.
213. The fans are always more radical than that which they are fans.
214. Wherever there is abuse there is also corruption. Politics, philosophy, theology, science, industry, any field with the potential to affect the well-being of others can be destroyed by abuse and saved by good will.
215. Elections have the power to turn once seemingly normal people into certified loonies.
216. The foundation of morality on the human sentiments of what is acceptable behavior versus repulsive behavior has always made morals susceptible to change. Much of what was repulsive 100 years ago is normal today.
217. To claim that one can never live a positive life with a negative mind is a very negative claim to make!
218. When you have a wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs.
219. Some people don't like the new way simply because they never got a chance to master the old way.
220. The hype cheapens the hyped, as right things are then made wrong by exaggeration.
221. The most important part of discernment is pinpointing the forces to be reckoned with, both the constructive and destructive.
222. To fear man's judgment more than God's judgment is to fear man more than God.
223. 'God helps those who help themselves' is common sense,
     'God helps those who cannot help themselves' is sound theology, and
     'God helps all the living', a simple ideation.
224. One is not made self-centered because he is foolish, but one is made foolish because he is self-centered.
225. The poorly sophisticated, lacking in good arguments, we are then prone to being well-versed in insults.
226. Any coward can be a peacekeeper!
227. A boy would need no help in deciding which girls he thinks are pretty.
228. While there may be various tips, pointers, ingredients, and strategies to success, there is no one formula that always guarantees it other than to keep learning from failure itself.
229. Trends are about as fickle as the direction of the wind; as are the legacies of those who flow with them.
230. Reason begets honesty and honesty begets confidence; so there is a sort of grand authority in the stances of those who know why they are standing.
231. Goodness is sparked by a caution for the sake of what is good, not a fear of what is bad.
232. The hope is indeed that some will experience and believe.
233. Science is knowledge meeting humility meeting curiosity. Atheism is often but knowledge meeting arrogance. Religion is infamously a weight under the one wing; then under the other is atheism.
234. It is a harsh reality that some of the most important and respectable jobs which deserve high salaries might be better off with low salaries. A politician, or a minister, or a teacher is sure to be working sincerely and selflessly for the good of the people when through and through there is little monetary reward guaranteed. This is how the charlatans are weeded out of the field.