Saadawi Quotes

To me, 'beauty' means to be natural, creative, honest - to say the truth. — Nawal El Saadawi

When you are intelligent and beautiful you face a lot of problems. If you are beautiful and stupid then it's easy. — Nawal El Saadawi

War criminals in the U.S. and Israel are not punished: no international court has the courage to put them on trial. — Nawal El Saadawi

If you are creative you must be dissident. — Nawal El Saadawi

Solidarity between women can be a powerful force of change, and can influence future development in ways favourable not only to women but also to men. — Nawal El Saadawi

Man ... put himself in a tight corner when he decided that woman was innately passive. — Nawal El Saadawi

She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it. — Nawal El Saadawi

The slogan of the revolution was dignity, social justice, and freedom. You cannot have dignity or social justice or freedom without women. — Nawal El Saadawi

When my second husband shouted, 'Me or your writing!' I replied, 'My writing.' We separated. — Nawal El Saadawi

I now knew that all of us were prostitutes who sold themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a cheap one. — Nawal El Saadawi

When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions. — Nawal El Saadawi

Many people come here and they think my apartment is a poor relative to my name. But you cannot be radical and have money, it's impossible. — Nawal El Saadawi

Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages. — Nawal El Saadawi

The mask of secularism may differ in thickness, may be less visible, but religion is always there hidden under hallowed big beautiful words — Nawal El Saadawi

They said, "You are a savage and dangerous woman."
I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous. — Nawal El Saadawi

When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident. — Nawal El Saadawi

The family code in Egypt is one of the worst family codes in the Arab world. Polygamy. The husband is having absolute power over the family. — Nawal El Saadawi

You know, I look to myself mainly as a creative writer all my life and a medical doctor. — Nawal El Saadawi

If you do not love yourself, well, you cannot do anything well, that's my philosophy. — Nawal El Saadawi

All revolutions in history have obstacles. There is not a revolution that succes. — Nawal El Saadawi

Doubt is the first step towards knowledge, not faith. — Nawal El Saadawi

Fearing servility, people become servile. — Nawal El Saadawi

In history, the millions win; that is democracy. — Nawal El Saadawi

My three husbands were afraid of me. I am a very powerful woman. — Nawal El Saadawi

Unity is power; without unity women cannot fight for their rights anywhere. — Nawal El Saadawi

My skin is soft, but my heart is cruel, and my bite is deadly. — Nawal El Saadawi

Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies. — Nawal El Saadawi

I knew I hated him as only a woman can hate a man, as only a slave can hate his master. — Nawal El Saadawi

Who said to kill does not require gentleness? — Nawal El Saadawi

Plastic surgery is a postmodern veil. — Nawal El Saadawi

Home is where you are appreciated, safe and protected, creative, and where you are loved - not where you are put in prison. — Nawal El Saadawi

I don't think that people in power can be convinced by words or articles. They will never give it up by choice. — Nawal El Saadawi

Everybody has to die, Firdaus. I will die, and you will die. The important thing is how to live until you die. — Nawal El Saadawi

Language, journalism, food, sex. All is politics. Even innocent love stories are politics ... There is no such thing as neutrality. — Nawal El Saadawi

Ever since I was a child I used to hear my father say: 'If the price we pay for freedom is high, we pay a much higher price if we accept to be slaves. — Nawal El Saadawi

I have triumphed over both life and death because I no longer desire to live, nor do I any longer fear to die. — Nawal El Saadawi

Education should be totally secular. I am not telling people not to believe in God, but it should be a personal matter which should be done at home. — Nawal El Saadawi

Truth is relative, and there is always something missing in truth that prevents it from being perfect. — Nawal El Saadawi

I am very much against makeup and high heels and all that we inherit as 'beauty.' — Nawal El Saadawi

Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself. — Nawal El Saadawi

The trilogy composed of politics, religion and sex is the most sensitive of all issues in any society. — Nawal El Saadawi

Love has made me a different person. It has made the world beautiful. — Nawal El Saadawi

We here in Egypt are fed up with U.S. colonialism. — Nawal El Saadawi

All the men I did get to know, every single man of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face. — Nawal El Saadawi

There is a proverb that says, 'Talk so that I may know who you are.' But I say, 'Show me your eyes and I will know who you are. — Nawal El Saadawi

We see our homeland more clearly when we are away from it than when we are in it. — Nawal El Saadawi

My work is not worthy of respect. Why then do you join in it with me? — Nawal El Saadawi