“
I'm not afraid," Rafi said.
"Why not?"
"If I die tomorrow it will have been useless to have been afraid today.
”
”
Mark Helprin (A Soldier of the Great War)
“
It seemed so unfair. No, it seemed impossible that Ramy could just leave this world so abruptly, that he could be so alive one moment and so still the next. It seemed to defy the laws of physics that Ramiz Rafi Mirza could be silenced by something so tiny as a bullet.
”
”
R.F. Kuang (Babel)
“
Don’t hide your wild, live it.
Let the tamed ones worry
about dreaming soberly.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
That what secretly flows between us today,
will gleam tomorrow, the way full moon does.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Hope was never meant to be
A future shared alone,
As life cannot be won or lost
It was never ours to own.
”
”
Frederic M. Perrin (Rafi's Song and the Stones of Erebus)
“
I don't know what keeps me mingled—
in excitement and grief.
I know no name of this fire I burn in—
but only that it is and I am.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
To the world—
lover is a fool.
To the lover—
world is deaf and blind.
Only if you could—
take a sip of his yearning.
Your soul would—
rise, hang—
and burn like crazy.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
You are the essence—
of who I am, what I do,
I cannot live without you.
You are my soul;
how can I separate you—
from my heart?
I am a fish, you are the vast ocean, you must not leave me at shore,
I cannot live without you.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
An empty world,
Full of many million people.
An empty heart,
But one desire to keep you.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Know yourself, not a face, in love, a deeper grace.
”
”
Frederic M. Perrin (Rafi's Song and the Stones of Erebus)
“
Is it not enough to shine,
To know that friends are true?
That love is born of friendship,
And who you are is you?
”
”
Frederic M. Perrin (Rafi's Song and the Stones of Erebus)
“
But just look at her, he thought. How can there be this much treasure all in one place, and the world still here?
”
”
Rafi Zabor
“
Stop acting like a beggar,
know your place fool.
You’re a royal guest, a royal guest—
that has been sent to this beautiful illusion.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Toby kicks another rock and we're quiet for another minute or so.
Then she says, Sometimes you seem like that too.
I don't say anything.
”
”
Rafi Mittlefehldt (It Looks Like This)
“
It seemed to defy the laws of physics that Ramiz Rafi Mirza could be silenced by something so tiny as a bullet
”
”
R.F. Kuang (Babel)
“
Rafi Hâdy Mamnoun Abdul-Salâm. C'est mon nom, mais les gens qui me connaissent préfèrent m'appeler Rafi. Je n'ai jamais compris pourquoi...
”
”
Pierre Bottero (Le Souffle de la Hyène (L'Autre, #1))
“
Neither Rafi nor I saw what was happening. No one did. That computers would take over our lives: Sure. But the way that they would turn us into different beings? The full flavor of our translated hearts and minds? Not even my most enlightened fellow programmers at CRIK foresaw that with any resolution. Sure, they predicted personal, portable Encyclopedia Britannicas and group real-time teleconferencing and personal assistants that could teach you how to write better. But Facebook and WhatsApp and TikTok and Bitcoin and QAnon and Alexa and Google Maps and smart tracking ads based on keywords stolen from your emails and checking your likes while at a urinal and shopping while naked and insanely stupid but addictive farming games that wrecked people’s careers and all the other neural parasites that now make it impossible for me to remember what thinking and feeling and being were really like, back then? Not even close.
”
”
Richard Powers (Playground)
“
Who put poison ivy leaves in the kale salad?” Gabe thundered, pointing at the bowl that had miraculously reappeared yet again on the table. “And laxatives in the fruit cake.” Rafi laughed. I grinned because it hadn’t been me. He might not have stuck around, but Samael had been here. And that made our little holiday celebration complete.
”
”
Debra Dunbar (Down The Chimney (Imp, #10.5))
“
...hurrying because you have to feels different from hurrying because you want to.
”
”
Rafi Mittlefehldt (It Looks Like This)
“
You’re far
yet so close—
to my soul.
For, I have a home for you—
in my heart—
from the very beginning.
So, you’ll stay,
grow old,
and be buried with me.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Oh beloved, I am in love—
with your presence within.
For, it sets me free of my past—
it keeps me in the middle of my heart.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Yesterday I was drunk.
I wandered in darkness and—
mumbled poor definitions of love.
Today I am sober,
I am sleepless,
I am speechless.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Ambitions are like assholes, and they smell like flowers to the owner. I must be delusional. Give it up.
”
”
Rafi Zabor
“
Spread your wings. Fly as far to know who you are.
”
”
Frederic M. Perrin (Rafi's Song and the Stones of Erebus)
“
Seek the Light, for if you stop, the darkness will claim you.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Just like a rose petal—
flying powerlessly in the wind.
Wherever you turn, I turn.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Take my hand and escape me from what I've become.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
The path is always there, but only for those who have the vision to see it and the courage to walk upon it.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
You can light the way, but the journey is theirs to take.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
You can show the path, but you can't force someone to walk it.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
It's not about waiting for the right people to appear; it's about refining yourself until the right people are naturally drawn to your light.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Trust the journey,
nurture the light within,
and let the magic happen
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
A friend is not just a companion but a force that can either uplift your soul and lead you toward light or divert your path and pull you into darkness.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Create stuff, put yourself out there for the world to see and then persist through all the craptastic insecurities you have. That’s it. Anyone that tells you differently is trying to sell you something.
”
”
Rafi Perez (The Rogue Artist's Survival Guide)
“
My son Rafi is enchanted with cyberspace. But we are not disembodied mind or spirit, we are our bodies - cruising the Internet won't teach us that. It may even trick us into thinking that having a body and a place is not important. Gardening teaches us differently. I do not mean industrial mechanized farming, I mean the kind of gardening that any one of us can do with his hands and feet and the simplest tools.
”
”
Vigen Guroian (Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening)
“
Smoke a bowl and you can do this for hours,” one of the guys says. “Just kidding. No drugs in the major leagues.” As we cut the clay, there are no bowls to smoke—though according to one sod farm worker, weed goes well with anything turf-related: “You can’t be a grass man and not be a grass man,” he says—but there is an easy intimacy among the crew, a kind of in-this-together camaraderie, and for a few minutes I feel like one of them, too.
”
”
Rafi Kohan (The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport)
“
tailgating is a local tradition that both predates Lambeau Field and dovetails seamlessly with another beloved Green Bay pastime: drinking. Even Prohibition couldn’t slow the town’s taps. “There were speakeasies all over,” says the historian. “I was told once that one of the reasons the mob never moved in here was because it was so wide open. They couldn’t get a foothold. It was just generally accepted that Green Bay wasn’t going to obey the Eighteenth Amendment.
”
”
Rafi Kohan (The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport)
“
It looks like this:
Pink, mostly.
Puffs of orange just below.
The fiercest yellow way ahead, far, far ahead.
Red slashed all across.
All of it fading to blue, getting deeper and deeper as you go out.
Underneath all that is the ocean, reflecting it back. All I can hear are the waves and the seagulls, all this calmness surrounded by an eruption of colors, deep strong colors.
I only saw this once in real life. We stayed up late and walked to Mill Point Beach in the middle of the night. There was no light anywhere and we sat, blind, and we said nothing. We didn’t speak for the longest time, just listened to the ocean.
Then the blackness started melting.
This is what it looked like when the sun finally came up. I was so tired, we both were, but we did it anyway.
We only saw it once because there wasn’t much after that, and now we can’t ever go again.
This is what I see when I want to remember the good parts. This is what I see when I think of him, when I let myself think of him.
”
”
Rafi Mittlefehldt (It Looks Like This)
“
In the meantime, the Bear had attained the Avenue, where blinding, brilliant traffic travelled like a line of light from north to south, as if between worlds. But it was Jacob who saw the ladder, wrestled with the angel, and obtained a birthright under false pretenses. The Bear had done none of these things. He pulled the hat brim farther down on his face and walked south beneath the vault of darkness, above him like guardians or heralds the electric signs of bars and stores- white, orange, yellow, gold, red, brilliant blue and green, occasional imperial purple - as if they were angels that had descended to earth only to hire themselves out as lures for business, possibly for reasons of pity. The Bear walked beneath them like a resolute and powerful man, the saxophone case at his side swinging like a cache of fate, love, gold or vengeance. When he realised that he could have his pick of them - that all options, attributions and possibilities actually were open to him, that he was, at the moment, exalted, liberated, free - he stopped walking for a moment, put down the saxophone case, looked gradually around him at the Avenue, raised his snout and smiled broadly, and there on the pavement stretched out his great and inevitable arms. Aah. The night entered him like honey, and he began so heartily and with such depth of pleasure that it might have been for the first time in his life, to laugh out loud.
”
”
Rafi Zabor
“
In language, I discern words that fail to signify what they denote and do not adequately convey their meanings. The word happiness seeks its meaning in people and in their yearnings and their desires, while people seek the meaning of happiness in the word and in its definitions and its truths. It may well be that the meaning of the word lies discarded somewhere beneath the sun in a neglected corner of an obscure village, or in the shelter of a sycamore tree, or sleeping under a bale of cotton taken as a temporary roof, or sitting and laughing in a neighborhood gathering, or standing to contemplate the current of a stream, or stretched out and gazing up at the heavens.
”
”
مصطفى صادق الرافعي
“
This will always be harder for me than it is for you, so get over yourself.
”
”
Mittlefehdlt, Rafi
“
...hurrying because you have to feels different from hurrying because you want to.
”
”
Mittlefehdlt, Rafi
“
The Bear sat at the other end; the rhythm section was arrayed between them like a string of pearls.
”
”
Rafi Zabor (The Bear Comes Home: A Novel)
“
You'll never make money from being on TV or being in the media where people are going to buy your product or service.
You will be able to use those logos in order to get credibility for people to buy your products and services in the future.
”
”
Aariya Rafi
“
There, behind many icons of Mary and the holy Jesus, Maylee kissed Rafi back.
”
”
Diamond Wilson (Dangers in the Desert (The Quest for the Queen, #2))
“
But mattering to her alone wasn’t reason enough for a person to live. Rafi needed to know he belonged to more than just his lover, that many people cherished him and wanted him back. That he had a place in the world, just by virtue of being himself.
”
”
Molly Ringle (Ballad for Jasmine Town)
“
Five bucks says Everett and Rafi don’t even make it to the property before they get all brown chicken brown cow.
”
”
Kelly Fox (Hard Target (Wrecked: Guardians, #1))
“
All that time pretending to be Rafi, I knew exactly who I was supposed to be. But now there's nothing for me to fall back on, like I never had anything that was mine.
”
”
Scott Westerfeld (Youngbloods (Impostors, #4))
“
We played the game of love.
She kept playing, I kept losing.
”
”
Rafy Roan
“
Last night I Kneeled and kissed the ground,
my soul spoke beyond skies.
"I know you love me — you know I'm ashamed.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
I might not rhyme
like others would—
in your mind.
But at the end,
I promise—
I'll make sense to you.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
I'm in the middle of a war within me.
“Against you, for you
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Don't dissolve, but gleam
with the beauty of what’s in your heart.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Memories, especially when they are of someone we love, are an unblemished version of the things we'd like to remember
”
”
Becky Wallace (The Storyspinner (The Keepers' Chronicles, #1))
“
Many times, I stepped in the mud.
Every time, you turned it to gold.
If not for your love, I deserve nothing—
but disappearance of my whole being.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
We need to analyze and contemplate the experience of modernity in the Arab and Muslim world, in order to grasp what is happening. Some of us, for example, reject modernity, and yet it’s obvious that these same people are using the products of modernity, even to the extent that when proselytizing their interpretation of Islam, which conflicts with modernity, they’re employing the tools of modernity to do so.
This strange phenomenon can best be understood by contemplating our basic attitude towards modernity, stemming from two centuries ago. If we analyze books written by various Muslim thinkers at the time, concerning modernity and the importance of modernizing our societies, and so forth, we can see that they distinguished between certain aspects of modernity that should be rejected, and others that may be accepted. You can find this distinction in the very earliest books that Muslim intellectuals wrote on the topic of modernity.
To provide a specific example, I’ll cite an important book that is widely regarded as having been the first ever written about modern thought in the Muslim world, namely, a book by the famous Egyptian intellectual, Rifa’ Rafi’ al-Tahtawi (1801–1873), Takhlish al-Ibriz fi Talkhish Baris, whose title may be translated as Mining Gold from Its Surrounding Dross. As you can immediately grasp from its title, the book distinguishes between the “gold” contained within modernity—gold being a highly prized, expensive and rare product of mining—and its so-called “worthless” elements, which Muslims are forbidden to embrace.
Now if we ask ourselves, “What elements of modernity did these early thinkers consider acceptable, and what did they demand that we reject?,” we discover that technology is the “acceptable” element of modernity. We are told that we may adopt as much technology as we want, and exploit these products of modernity to our heart’s content. But what about the modes of thought that give rise to these products, and underlie the very phenomenon of modernity itself? That is, the free exercise of reason, and critical thought? These two principles are rejected and proscribed for Muslims, who may adopt the products of modernity, while its substance, values and foundations, including its philosophical modes of thought, are declared forbidden.
Shaykh Rifa’ Rafi’ al-Tahtawi explained that we may exploit knowledge that is useful for defense, warfare, irrigation, farming, etc., and yet he simultaneously forbade us to study, or utilize, the philosophical sciences that gave rise to modern thought, and the love for scientific methodologies that enlivens the spirit of modern knowledge, because he believed that they harbored religious deviance and infidelity (to God).
”
”
علي مبروك
“
Elio poussa un sifflement ravi.
- En fait, je suis un genre de magicien !
- Non.
- Comment ça, non ? Je me transforme, je guéris, je passe dans des mondes étranges, je...
- Ce n'est pas de la magie.
- Qu'est-ce que c'est alors ?
Rafi se gratta le crâne d'un air perplexe. Elio était un garçon stupéfiant. Il avait réussi à se tirer de situations aussi périlleuses que bouleversantes, raisonnait avec une intelligence et une maturité confondantes, et possédait des ressources plus qu'étonnantes.
Certes.
Mais il n'avait que neuf ans.
- D'accord. Appelons ça magie si tu veux.
”
”
Pierre Bottero (La Huitième Porte (L'Autre, #3))
“
I know, don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.” “Yeah, but do you have a Plan B?” Rafi chuckled.
”
”
Todd Tavolazzi (Looking into the Sun: A Novel of the Syrian Conflict)
“
Todas las demás situaciones de estrés en el mundo del deporte son creación nuestra; su origen está en nuestros pensamientos, en nuestra imaginación y en nuestros sentimientos. Una de las características principales de un partido de fútbol y del deporte es la incertidumbre.
”
”
Rafi Srebro (Ganar con la cabeza: Una guía completa de entrenamiento mental para el fútbol (Psicología Deportiva) (Spanish Edition))
“
I was told once that one of the reasons the mob never moved in here was because it was so wide open. They couldn’t get a foothold. It was just generally accepted that Green Bay wasn’t going to obey the Eighteenth Amendment.
”
”
Rafi Kohan (The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport)
“
Isser formed the operational team. All of its twelve members were volunteers. Some were Holocaust survivors, with concentration camp numbers tattooed on their forearms. The core of the team was the operational unit of the security services. At its head were the two top agents of the Shabak. Rafi Eitan was appointed commander. At his side was Zvi Malkin,
”
”
Michael Bar-Zohar (Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service)
“
RAFI has grown to become an international high-tech company with more than 100 years of history. Through our joint work, we have developed many innovations that have significantly advanced our company and the industry itself. Whether key switches, HMI systems or EMS solutions – RAFI has repeatedly succeeded in defining new standards.
”
”
RAFI GmbH Co KG
“
There is no path you can follow, and there is no map. There is only opportunity. Instead of seeing a limited number of ways you can go, make the whole landscape yours.
”
”
Rafi Perez (The Rogue Artist's Survival Guide)
“
There is no fairy dust, no proven method, no magic formula, no google map address, and no online course that can tell you where to go. There is only you, your imagination, and your backbone.
”
”
Rafi Perez (The Rogue Artist's Survival Guide)
“
Apart from its stated objective, the DRS was part of Patel's strategy against Nehru. Patel even intended to throw Nehru out of Congress, which is why Nehru asked his lieutenants Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Acharya Kripalani to leave Congress and prepare a new party, the Democratic Front which was dissolved again when Patel suddenly died in December 1950 and Nehru's position in Congress became unassailable.
”
”
Koenraad Elst (Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism)
“
The minute his father disappeared, Rafi headed into the room’s corner and went back through the wardrobe, stumbling into the brute particulars of another, more forgiving and beautiful world. A world, like the lake, that was endless, open, and free, belonging to no man.
”
”
Richard Powers (Playground)
“
Some wonders unveil themselves only to those who pause long enough to feel them—absorbing Allah's artistry through the silent language of the soul.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Laziness is just a symptom; the real cause is a lost sense of purpose.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
When you are blessed with pious souls around you, hold them close and nurture those connections. They are the light that brightens your journey.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Some people make the world brighter with their presence, and their light continues to shine within us.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Fulfilling your desires within your means is not wrong—enjoy your luxuries, but never let them overpower you.
True wisdom lies in maintaining balance and ensuring that you control your desires rather than letting them control you.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Miracles happen every day; they are hidden in the smallest things.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Guidance is given to those who seek it, but if you stop moving towards it, you will lose yourself in the darkness.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Entertainment should enrich your mind, not corrupt your soul. Be mindful of the stories you allow to shape your identity.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
If you can't master your thoughts you are in trouble forever
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Don't let emotions cloud your ability to think clearly.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
People who look for miracles outside often miss the ones within; you are the magic you have been waiting for.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Don't allow your emotions to overpower your intelligence
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
You are only lost in the darkness if you stop searching for the light.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Master your thoughts, or they will master you forever.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Release the chase for outcomes; nurture the urge within, and let the path reveal its wonders
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
There’s a difference between a smile that greets you and a smile that holds you—one is a gesture, the other feels like home. Not because of how it looks, but because of how it makes you feel.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Duas are sacred gifts, whispers of the soul to Allah, seeking blessings for those we hold dear.
”
”
Zainab Rafi
“
Here, there’s a chance that if you die, someone will care. Like Rafi, or one of the other leaders,” the guard says. “In the cities, if you get killed, definitely no one will give a damn, not if you’re a GD. The worst crime I’ve ever seen a GP get charged with for killing a GD was ‘manslaughter.’ Bullshit.” “Manslaughter?” “It means the crime is deemed an accident,” Rafi’s smooth, lilting voice says behind me. “Or at least not as severe as, say, first-degree murder. Officially, of course, we’re all to be treated the same, yes? But that is rarely put into practice.
”
”
Veronica Roth (Allegiant (Divergent, #3))
“
I'm not afraid," Rafi said. "Why not?" "If I die tomorrow it will have been useless to have been afraid today.
”
”
Mark Helprin (A Soldier of the Great War)
“
You’re from Chicago?” Rafi says to me. I
”
”
Veronica Roth (Allegiant (Divergent, #3))
“
Alessandro said, "Most people don't do this, but it's what saves you. It tests you in the right way." "Only for war," Rafi added. "We'll almost certainly never have to go to war. It's unlikely that a war will break out in Europe, and even if it did it's less likely that Italy would be included, but I want to be prepared. And this is not just for war, you see, it's for everything.
”
”
Mark Helprin (A Soldier of the Great War)
“
Love said to me, don’t try to define me,
If you think you can put me into words,
alas, my friend, you are at loss.
I am hidden from hidden things,
secrete of secretes.
I am different in each heart,
a hundred million faces,
a hundred million languages—
without a single word.
If you think you can define me,
alas, my friend, you are at loss.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan (The Soul House: Poetry)
“
it quite clear that nothing could come of our friendship. Despite his newsy letters, I’m still not sure that he sees me as anything more than a penfriend.’ ‘Well, there’s only one way of finding out,’ said Sophie, ‘and that’s seeing him again in person.’ ‘So you think I should?’ ‘If you care for him, then, yes, I do. Rafi was brave enough to come looking for me in the hopes that I felt the same way as he did. I’ve given thanks every day since that he did.’ Libby leant towards Sophie and squeezed her shoulder. ‘Rafi will look after himself. He’s not going to do anything rash – he adores you too much to put himself in danger.
”
”
Janet MacLeod Trotter (The Secrets of the Tea Garden (India Tea #4))
“
Love said to me, don’t try to define me,
If you think you can put me into words,
alas, my friend, you are at loss.
I am hidden from hidden things,
secrete of secretes.
I am different in each heart,
a hundred million faces,
a hundred million languages—
without a single word.
If you think you can define me,
alas, my friend, you are at loss.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
Justice is . . . the basis of prosperity.
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi (تخليص الإبريز في تلخيص باريز)
“
Justice is the basis of prosperity. . . . That which [the French] call freedom and which they crave is what we call 'justice' and 'equity', inasmuch as 'rule by freedom' means establishing equality in judgments and laws so that the ruler cannot oppress any human being.
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi
“
Justice is . . . the basis of prosperity. . . . That which [the French] call freedom and which they crave is what we call 'justice' and 'equity', inasmuch as 'rule by freedom' means establishing equality in judgments and laws so that the ruler cannot oppress any human being
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi
“
Even a lowly person may think of something that does not come to the mind of important people.
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi
“
The character traits of the French include curiosity, the passion for all things new, as well as the love of change and alternation in all things, especially when it comes to clothing. . . . [However] their political opinions do not change. Each person remains faithful to his ideology and opinions and supports them for the entire duration of his life.
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi
“
Justice is . . . the basis of prosperity. . . . That which [the French] call freedom and which they crave is what we call 'justice' and 'equity', inasmuch as 'rule by freedom' means establishing equality in judgments and laws so that the ruler cannot oppress any human being.
”
”
Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi
“
Where there is thunder—
there is rain.
Sometimes it falls,
sometimes in heart,
it tears the world apart.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
In burning fire lover is at peace. Let him be.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
The moment I saw you,
every desire, every thought
that wasn't about love
became moth and burned away.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan
“
You are the essence—
of who I am, what I do,
I cannot live without you.
You are my soul;
how can I separate you—
from my heart?
I am a fish, you are the vast ocean,
you must not leave me at shore,
I cannot live without you.
”
”
Rafy Rohaan