Top 100 Arabic Quotes
#1. I began thinking there should be an American phrase book, 'cause I've got an Italian phrase book, and an Arabic one ... now a British one. I think it'd be pretty good to have an American phrase book.
Joe Strummer
#2. When my job was attempting to predict future economic developments for the Shell oil company, I was frequently reminded of an Arabic saying: 'Those who claim to foresee the future are lying, even if by chance they are later proved right.'
Vince Cable
#3. Actually translates to "peace," because in Arabic it is based on the same root word, salam. That word, salam, can be found in the traditional greeting assalamualaikum ("Peace be upon you"). But as
Glenn Beck
#4. The ward designs were co-created by myself and Lauren K. Cannon. She read how they were described in 'The Warded Man,' and we had long discussions about what sources to draw from for the symbols, drawing inspiration from Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Sanskrit.
Peter V. Brett
#5. The Muslim heaven features prominently in the Quran, Arabic poetries and Hadith. The Jewish heaven, though, is still a mystery; it's mystic.
Joshua Cohen
#6. I have a lot of nice Italian winter clothes that make me look like a sophisticated Lebanese professor, so my friend Robert and I go around pretending to be experts in Arabic politics. It doesn't work in the summer though. I don't have the right clothes.
Alexei Sayle
#7. All religions, they play football - even nowadays all girls and women have the right to play football in cultures like the Arabic countries in the Muslim they play football.
Sepp Blatter
#8. If you are an Arabic-speaking, Greek-Orthodox going to a French school it makes you deeply sceptical if you have to listen to three different accounts of the Crusades - one from the Muslim side, one from the Greek side and one from the Catholic side.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
#9. Languages are different for a reason. You can't move ideas between them without losing something. The Arabs are the only ones who've figured this out. They have the sense to call non-Arabic versions of the Criterion interpretations, not translations.
G. Willow Wilson
#10. Many Arabic/Islamic words have now entered the English dictionary, such as haj, hijab, Eid, etc., and I no longer need to put them in italics or explain them.
Leila Aboulela
#11. An oft-quoted statistic from the [United Nations] reports is that the amount of literature translated into Spanish in a single year exceeds the entire corpus of what has been translated into Arabic in 1,000 years.
The Economist
#12. Allah protect us,' Bold said politely. Then, in Arabic, 'In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.' In his years in Temur's army he had learned to be as much a Muslim as anyone. The Buddha did not mind what you said to be polite.
Kim Stanley Robinson
#13. A turquoise given by a loving hand carries with it happiness and good fortune."
Arabic proverb
Judy Hall
#14. Learn the Arabic language; it will sharpen your wisdom.
Umar
#15. Myrrh (Arabic, "bitter") was used for the healing of wounds and bruises. Myrrh was also a symbol of self-sacrifice. [329]
Marianna Bartold
#16. I think my dad is the only Arabic descendent who is an unsuccessful businessman.
Shakira
#17. I grew up in St. Louis in a tiny house full of large music - Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson singing majestically on the stereo, my German-American mother fingering 'The Lost Chord' on the piano as golden light sank through trees, my Palestinian father trilling in Arabic in the shower each dawn.
Naomi Shihab Nye
#18. I'm shy, but sometimes my voice is so clear and strong. Your tongue moves, and the Arabic language is so beautiful.
Hakeem Olajuwon
#19. And so you paint pagodas and carp and phoenixes, but you also paint English country houses, and churches and coats of arms, the crucifixion, inscriptions in Persian and Arabic, carnations and tulips, mottos in Latin and knights in armour and Andromeda. v
Edmund De Waal
#20. Southern gentleman," he said aside to him in Arabic. "Do you wish for me to continue this for you?"
Caine's temper shifted to a low simmer in his chest. "Your way takes too long."
"Ma'aleyk, and your way hurts my ears," he argued.
V.S. Carnes
#21. key linguistic concepts and theories related to Arabic in a coherent way,
Karin C. Ryding
#22. As a text, the Quran is more than the foundation of the Islamic religion; it is the source of Arabic grammar. It is to Arabic what Homer is to Greek, what Chaucer is to English: a snapshot of an evolving language, frozen forever in time
Reza Aslan
#23. The Malays can hardly be said to have an indigenous literature, for it is almost entirely derived from Persia, Siam, Arabia, and Java. Arabic is their sacred language.
Isabella Bird
#24. If Greek and Latin characters are paving stones, Arabic is rain.
Don DeLillo
#25. Talk to Allah in your own language with your heart fully present. Allah doesn't need you to rhyme or speak arabic.
Omar Suleiman
#26. I might do something in Arabic. I might do something in Hebrew.
Stevie Wonder
#27. The real contribution of Rihani consists in having given us, in both Arabic and English, what may be considered the most vivid and interesting account of common-day life as it is lived at present in the hitherto little known Arabia.
Philip Khuri Hitti
#28. You've been the rabbi here for thirty years and these guys who've never set foot here want to decide who should be rabbi or not. And to lead prayer in Hebrew for Jews who speak Arabic, they want you to write in French. So I say they're nuts.
Joann Sfar
#29. The rise to prominence of the Saudi novel in Arabic is the great man-bites-dog of recent world literature. Saudi Arabia is a country without a free press, where European styles and forms are distrusted and where the female half of the population became literate only in this generation.
James Buchan
#30. Allah's the Arabic term for God. Stand up for God, fight for God, work for God and do the right thing, and go the right way, things will end up in your corner.
Muhammad Ali
#31. How do you say yoo-hoo in Arabic?" "I believe that yoo-hoo could be part of a universal language," Dan said. "Like ow. Or- you're stepping on my foot." "That's universal?" "No, you're stepping on my foot. Ow." Amy moved.
Judy Blundell
#32. I trained to become a professional Koran singer, from the age of 14 until I was 18. This involved learning Arabic harmony, breathing techniques, all of the things that this entails. And, of course, it involved studying the Koran.
Shahin Najafi
#33. That's no pig," answered Hassan in English. "That's a goddamned monster." The pig stopped its rotting and looked up at them. "I mean. Wilbur is a fugging pig. Babe is a fugging pig. That thing was birthed from the loins of Iblis." (Arabic: Satan)
John Green
#34. It sometimes happens to me while writing, that I seek a word; mischievous as it is it appears in English, it appears in Arabic, but refuses to come in Hebrew. To some extent I made up my Hebrew. Unquestionably, the influence of Arabic is dominant, my syntax is almost Arabic.
Sami Michael
#35. Arabic is very twisting, very beautiful. The call to prayer is quite haunting; it almost makes you a believer on the spot.
John Updike
#36. Why the Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, Choctaw? Well, what tongue does the wind talk? What nationality is a storm? What country do rains come from? What color is lightning? Where does thunder goe when it dies?
Ray Bradbury
#37. Going back and forth between Western Arabic and African countries clearly created the various musical backgrounds I could have and obviously influenced my professional attitude, my way of approaching both music composition and singing, particularly phrasing.
Rokia Traore
#38. I don't speak Arabic - I know a little to get by, but that's all.
Laura Poitras
#39. One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.
Naguib Mahfouz
#40. Carter got jeans, boots, and a T-shirt that read Property of Alexandria University in English and Arabic. Clearly, even personal shoppers had him pegged as a complete geek.
Rick Riordan
#41. If I were to pray in Arabic, I'd pray to Allah. If I were to pray in English, I'd pray to God.
Rabih Alameddine
#44. You speak Arabic? Tell him my name is Infidel Redeemed by Christ.
Lili Tufel
#45. Abram - Ibrahim, in the Arabic spelling - was the first to worship Allah, the one God, rather than the stars, the moon, or the sun.
Susan Wise Bauer
#46. Concerted voices of heartfelt petitions in Arabic all pleading for divine intervention are abruptly silenced as the drone ensures fatalities by injecting a final stab in each of their skulls.
C.J. Anderson
#47. To paraphrase a Latino saying (which is possibly ultimately from the Arabic traditiom), MI rasa is supposed raza." So Living in Spanglish is not a racial Istanbul text.
Ed Morales
#48. A small film from a small country, in Arabic with nonprofessionals: It was practically impossible. Just to make it was like a dream to me.
Nadine Labaki
#49. We have Al Jazeera Arabic news, Al Jazeera English news, of course; we have three sports channels, and we have Al Jazeera Mubasher, which is a live channel that broadcasts live press conferences and symposiums and meetings. And, of course, we have Al Jazeera commentary in Arabic.
Wadah Khanfar
#50. One of the interpreters hired by CBS for the Dan Rather/Saddam Hussein interview adopted a phony Arabic accent. You know, maybe CBS should have hired somebody with a fake Dan Rather accent to ask tougher questions.
Jay Leno
#51. It became the country's official language in the 13th century under the reign of Alfonso X el Sabio (the wise one) as he tried to unify a country that was housing a number of languages, including arabic, hebrew and latin.
Pilar Orti
#52. Pomegranate molasses is ubiquitous in Arabic cooking: it's sweet, sour and adds depth.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#53. I listen to a lot of alternative types of music: I listen to a lot of Chinese music, I listen to a lot of Asian music. It might surprise you, but I listen to a lot of Arabic music. And I don't care - music is music.
Timbaland
#54. I actually speak fluent English and Spanish and ... I dabble in a couple of languages, but I'm not fluent in German, Russian and Arabic.
Cote De Pablo
#55. Stories were migrants, blow-ins, border-crossers, tunnellers from France and Italy and more distant territories where earlier and similar stories had been passed on in Arabic and Persian and Chinese and Sanskrit.
Marina Warner
#56. Physical immortality is seductive. The ancient Hindus sought it; the Greek physician Galen from the 2nd Century A.D. and the Arabic philosopher/physician Avicenna from the 11th Century A.D. believed in it.
S. Jay Olshansky
#57. Classical Arabic, being the language of the Qur'an, has not changed at all in fourteen centuries, making the writings of the early Islamic scholars as accessible today as they were then.
Jim Al-Khalili
#58. Whenever I come across an Arabic word mired in English text, I am momentarily shocked out of the narrative.
Rabih Alameddine
#59. I love the Middle East. My earliest childhood memories are of Jerusalem. I love the colors and smells and cadence of Arabic spoken in the streets of Cairo or Beirut. I also love the modernity and verve of Tel Aviv.
Kai Bird
#60. Being published in Arabic is a strong and consistent wish I have. I live in the Middle East and want to be in some sort of an unpragmatic dialogue with my neighbors.
Etgar Keret
#61. They quickly discerned the advantages of utilizing columns of numbers or place numbers in the style of Arabic numerals, and they introduced the use of zero, negative numbers, and algebra in China.
Jack Weatherford
#63. "eL Seed" was inspired by the French play Le Cid by Pierre Corneille. It was seeing "Le Cid" coming from the Arabic name "el sayed," which means "the master, the man." So I called myself like that because I was 16; I said, "Yes, I'm the man." That's how it started.
EL Seed
#64. I've been working a lot with identity and roots, being part of your roots. I went into this topic where I was trying to break the stereotype of Arabic language. The non-translation work, this is where I make the switch, where you don't need to translate.
EL Seed
#65. Fuck the Bureau! Their entire outfit is half the size of the NYPD. I've got more officers who speak Arabic in one precinct that you guys have in the entire D.O.D.!
Brian K. Vaughan
#66. Nick commenced a monologue explaining the impossibility of such a phenomenon: the subordination of content to the aesthetics of language in Arabic literature, the dominance of panegyrics and eulogies as an art form, etc.
Rabih Alameddine
#67. It is my great good luck the words I use are English words, which means I live in a very old nation of open borders; a rich, deep, multi-layered, promiscuous universe, infused with Latin, German, French, Greek, Arabic and countless other tongues.
Geraldine Brooks
#68. All the sciences came to exist in Arabic. The systematic works on them were written in Arabic writing.
Ibn Khaldun
#69. If you watch a Chinese movie with subtitles, it's just like watching an Arabic movie with Chinese subtitles. That explains why you can't take Chinese language movies and expect them to go abroad.
Bruno Zheng Wu
#70. Assad: 'I have written it just down here.'
He Pointed to a number of Arabic symbols that could just as well have meant it was going to snow in the Lofoten Islands in the morning.
Jussi Adler-Olsen
#71. God's true language: Hebrew. Latin. Arabic. Sanskrit.
As if utterance fit into the requirements of the human mouth.
I learned how to find the new moon by looking for the circular absence of stars. [...]
I learned God's true language is only silence and breath.
Kazim Ali
#72. May Allah bless you." Or had she said: "May Allah burn you?" He was not sure which: the two Arabic words sounded so much alike.
Paul Bowles
#73. If there were a Jessica Chase instruction manual, it would be written backwards in Arabic Pig Latin and twelve thousand pages long with random pages missing.
Olivia Cunning
#74. The Semitic/Arabic word for [Deacon] is transliterated into English as, Shammaas; the Semitic tongue preserved its original form as, Shaman.
Ibrahim Ibrahim
#75. The letters a and l are the most common in Arabic, partly because of the definite article al-, whereas the letter j appears only a tenth as frequently.
Simon Singh
#76. I hate waiting on torture; an Arabic proverb says, "Waiting on torture is worse than torture." I can only confirm this proverb.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
#77. INK, n. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote intellectual crime.
Ambrose Bierce
#78. Present-day Spain translates as many books into Spanish, annually, as the Arab world has translated into Arabic in the past 1,100 years.
Martin Amis
#79. This must be Aleppo. Nothing to see, of course. Just a long, poor-lighted platform with loud furious altercations in Arabic going on somewhere. Two men below her window were talking French.
Agatha Christie
#80. In the history of humanity, there have been many languages, including French, that have served as universal languages: Latin, Chinese, Arabic, and more. Yet none of them ever ruled the world the way English does today.
Minae Mizumura
#81. Speak any language, Turkish, Greek, Persian, Arabic, but always speak with love
Rumi
#82. I might sing a gospel song in Arabic or do something in Hebrew. I want to mix it up and do it differently than one might imagine.
Stevie Wonder
#83. In fact, for a period stretching over seven hundred years, the international language of science was Arabic. For this was the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, and thus the official language of the vast Islamic Empire that, by the early eighth century CE, stretched from India to Spain.
Jim Al-Khalili
#84. Every mujahadeen who comes in from outside the country finds an environment where Arabic is spoken. So in that sense, it's a tremendous come-on for the young in Islam. But I think much more important is, it just validates so much of what the Muslim world is predisposed to believe.
Michael Scheuer
#85. The fact of simultaneously being Christian and having as my mother tongue Arabic, the holy language of Islam, is one of the basic paradoxes that have shaped my identity.
Amin Maalouf
#86. In school in Lebanon, we were not allowed to speak Arabic during breaks - it had to be French or English.
Rabih Alameddine
#87. I do believe, given the heritage of Al Jazeera itself in Arabic and in English, I think Al Jazeera will succeed in introducing another perspective on the news that the American market is in need for.
Wadah Khanfar
#88. Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors.
Hunter S. Thompson
#89. Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home.
John Abizaid
#90. You learn something from the classics but your feelings and your imagination operate in the domain of the colloquial. We need to think seriously about reforming the Arabic that we use today.
Hassan Blasim
#91. His English was exceptional. There was a glottal sound in his voice, but it was not harsh. I'd often asked him to help me with my sparse Arabic, trying to get my pronunciation of this or that word right. "Shukran." "Afwan." "Qumbula." Thank you. You're welcome. Bomb.
Kevin Powers
#92. I'm a multi-lingual Kundalini-dancing shapeshifter to the 69th degree.
I know French, Italian, Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Greek, Latin, Gaelic, Scottish, English, and American English.
I'm cunninglingual.
Sienna McQuillen
#93. His conversation was full of imagination, and very often in limitation of ther Persian, and Arabic writers, he invented tales of wonderful fancy and passion. At other times he repeated my fsvorite poems or drew me out into arguments, wich he suported with great ingenuity.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
#94. Gerdanlouk, he thinks. An evocative Turkish word, with Arabic roots. It means jewelry, but only jewelry adorning a woman between her lower neck and the top of her breasts. Gerdanlouk. He looks away.
Jenny White
#95. There is an Arabic writer who wrote philosophy and poetry and who brought all religions and all the world together.
Salma Hayek
#96. I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take.
Tahar Ben Jelloun
#97. Closing my eyes and holding still. It's the end if I get mad or scream. It's close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That's what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters.
Kenji Goto
#98. That's something the head scarf, in a symbolic way, is meant to do in Arabic culture: it defines your relationship to your husband and the men of your family differently than your relationship to the average guy on the street you've never met.
G. Willow Wilson
#99. I feel pretty stupid that I don't know any foreign languages. I wish I knew French or Arabic or Chinese.
Bill Gates
#100. Being that the *historical* Jesus was of pure Hebraic descent- lineage of Eber- He was not an Arab or of Arabic descent, therefore He was not dark skinned as most Israeli's are not."
~R. Alan Woods [2013]
R. Alan Woods
