Nawal El Saadawi Quotes

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

[W]hen the President's visitors came to Guinea, we were all called on to go and entertain them. I've never seen a country that did what Sékou Touré did for artists. Even in South Africa today we are not nurtured like that.

Oumou Sangare embodies this alluring dichotomy like no one else. She’s the epitome of tough femininity; beautiful, elegant, determined, independent, talented…and, well, hard

The Rose Vol. 2 (2005)

Me Against the World (1995)

I'm not a princess,
This ain't a fairytale.
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell.
This ain't Hollywood,
This is a small town.
I was a dreamer before
You went and let me down.
Now it's too late for you and your white horse
To come around.

Jail is big business, believe me. I'm in jail, I see the big business. You can feed a whole town off one jail. This jail is in the middle of a town that feeds everybody. Everybody works here, this is the main income. So if there were no criminals, nobody would work.

I never fucked a 10, but one night I fucked 5 twos!

In "Mystery Train" (1955), he rocks out with an astounding depth, Elvis' voice never sounding so rich, nor so pleading; best of all is his final spontaneous laugh & whoop of excitement, worth its weight in gold.

There will always be some people who think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself.

Isaac A. Ezekiel: Sarmad, Martyr to Love Divine, Radha Soami Satsang Beas Publishers, Delhi, 1st edition, 2005

I know that you are just a stone and that you can neither do any harm nor give benefit. Had I not seen Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allâh be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you.

I dream India of becoming a great economic superpower.

It is doubly chimerical to build peace on economic foundations which, in turn, rest on the systematic cultivation of greed and envy, the very forces which drive men into conflict.

I don't want India to be an economic superpower. I want India to be a happy country.

The Security Council has not been able to implement its own resolutions because the five permanent members – instead of being a policeman – unfortunately what we’ve seen over the years, they’ve sort of turned into gangsters. This is the reality.