What makes revolutionary thought unique is its clarity and dignity, and its clear grasp of freedom and justice: simple, clear words that are understood without the need for any help from elite writers or thinkers.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
I've participated in many demonstrations since I was a child. When I was at medical college, I was fighting King Farouk, then British colonization, against Nasser, against Sadat who pushed me into prison, Mubarak who pushed me into exile. I never stopped.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects unwavering courage and commitment to activism despite facing oppression.
Nawal El Saadawi's quote speaks to the enduring spirit of resistance against authoritarian regimes and colonization. It highlights a life dedicated to fighting for justice and equality, showing that activism often comes with personal sacrifices, including imprisonment and exile. Her experiences exemplify the challenges faced by those who oppose oppression, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in the struggle for freedom.
Themes
ActivismResistanceOppressionJusticeCourage
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing youth activism, one might say, 'Just like Nawal El Saadawi, we must never stop fighting for our rights.'
More from Nawal El Saadawi
All quotes →Yet not for a single moment did I have any doubts about my own integrity and honour as a woman. I knew that my profession had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between fiction and nonfiction.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
My skin is soft, but my heart is cruel, and my bite is deadly.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
Interviewer: What would you say to a woman in this country who assumes she is no longer oppressed, who believes women's liberation has been achieved? el Saadawi: Well I would think she is blind. Like many people who are blind to gender problems, to class problems, to international problems. She's blind to what's happening to her.
Nawal El SaadawiRead
Similar quotes
War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste... The only redeeming factors were my comrades' incredible bravery and their devotion to each other. Marine Corps training taught us to kill efficiently and to try to survive. But it also taught us loyalty to each other - and love. That espirit de corps sustained us.
Eugene B. SledgeRead
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
SophoclesRead
Over half a million women are raped in this country every year, and only a fraction of them report it because they're too ashamed. It’s a really screwed up world, but its not your fault, and what happened to you, it doesn't make you the monster.
Mariska HargitayRead
There are men in the world who derive an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as other from success.
Winston ChurchillRead
I'm told I'm a statistic. I'm told that my young black sisters are disease-ridden... but we are greater than what society tells us we are.
Jurnee Smollett-BellRead
To a contrarian like me, constant advice not to do something almost always starts me quickly down the risky, unpopular path.
Michael BloombergRead