Quotes from Nawal El Saadawi

Lelaki revolusioner yang berpegang pada prinsip-prinsip sebenarnya tidak banyak berbeda dari lelaki lainnya. Mereka mempergunakan kepintaran mereka, dengan menukarkan prinsip mereka untuk mendapatkan apa yang dapat dibeli orang lain dengan uang. Revolusi bagi mereka tak ubahnya sebagai seks bagi kami. Sesuatu yang disalahgunakan. Sesuatu yang dapat dijual.

Now I realised that the least deluded of all woman was the prostitute. That marriage was the system built on the most cruel suffering for women.

Bir manda bile Kafr El Teen'deki insanlardan çok daha ak?ll?d?r.

Setiap orang harus mati. Saya akan mati, dan kamu akan mati. Dan yang penting ialah bagaimana untuk hidup sampai mati.

She delighted to hear words of admiration from a man's mouth, a delicious but never surprised delight, for she was sure something in her was worthy of admiration.

I refuse to be a slave, either to money or to love.

If the first man who comes along does not want her, she will have the next, or the one after. No need to wait any longer for just one man. No need to be sad when he does not turn up, or to expect anything and suffer when one's hopes are razed to the ground.

Previously, it hqd brought her the names of famous men who had discovered things. She would bite her nails as she listened, telling herself that if she were a man she would be able to do likewise. Obscurity, she felt that these discoverers had no greater talent for discovery than she, only that they were men. Yes, a man could do things a woman could not simply because he was a man. He was not more able, but he was male, and masculinity in itself was one of the preconditions for discovery.

I was like a woman walking through an enchanted world to which she did not belong. She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it.

Previously, it had brought her the names of famous men who had discovered things. She would bite her nails as she listened, telling herself that if she were a man she would be able to do likewise. Obscurity, she felt that these discoverers had no greater talent for discovery than she, only that they were men. Yes, a man could do things a woman could not simply because he was a man. He was not more able, but he was male, and masculinity in itself was one of the preconditions for discovery.

Lelaki tidak tahu nilai seorang perempuan. Perempuan itulah yang menentukan nilai dirinya. Semakin tinggi kau menaruh harga bagi dirimu semakin dia menyadari hargamu itu sebenarnya, dan dia akan bersiap untuk membayar dengan apa yang dimilikinya. Dan bila dia tidak memilikinya, dia akan mencuri dari orang lain untuk memberimu apa yang kau minta.

A new world was opening up in front of my eyes, a world which for me had not existed before. Maybe it had always been there, always existed, but I had never seen it, never realized it had been there all the time. How was it that I had been blind to its existence all these years?

life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder then life itself

Ketika mereka meneriakkan kata "patriotisme," dengan segera saya tahu, bahwa ketakutan bukan kepada Allah, dan bahwa dalam benak mereka, patriotisme mereka itu adalah yang miskin harus mati untuk membela tanah orang kaya, tanah mereka, karena saya tahu bahwa orang yang miskin tidak memiliki tanah.

Reality always seemed pale in comparison with the stark beauty of fantasy.

Saya tahu bahwa profesiku ini telah diciptakan oleh lelaki, dan bahwa lelaki menguasai dua dunia kita, yang di bumi ini dan di alam baka. Bahwa lelaki memaksa perempuan menjual tubuh mereka dengan harga tertentu, dan bahwa tubuh yang paling murah dibayar adalah tubuh sang istri. Semua perempuan adalah pelacur dalam satu atau lain bentuk. Karena saya seorang yang cerdas, saya lebih menyukai menjadi seorang pelacur yang bebas daripada menjadi seorang istri yang diperbudak.

Kehormatan memerlukan jumlah uang yang besar untuk membelanya, tetapi bahwa jumlah uang yang besar tidak dapat diperoleh tanpa kehilangan kehormatan seseorang. Sebuah lingkaran setan yang berputar-putar, menyeret saya naik dan turun bersamanya.

I stood without moving, like a statue, swallowing the humiliation and the dust raised by the demonstrators as they went on their way. I was no longer the doctor who treated them when they were sick, no longer the freedom fighter ready to go off to the front. I was a mere woman, a hussy, a bitch. I was just a nitaya to be reviled like all other women in this world. I was a word shooting out from the mouths of the boys like a gob of spit.

When they pronounced the word 'patriotism' I could tell at once that in their heart of hearts they feared not Allah, and that at the back of their minds patriotism meant that the poor should die to defend the land of the richt, their land, for I knew that the poor had no land.

Life is a snake. They are the same, Firdaus. If the snake realises you are not a snake, it will bite you. And if life knows you have no sting, it will devour you.

Setiap orang akan mati, Firdaus. Saya akan mati, dan kamu akan mati. Dan yang penting ialah bagaimana untuk hidup sampai mati." "Kau harus lebih keras dari hidup itu, Firdaus. Hidup itu amat keras. Yang hanya hidup ialah orang-orang lebih keras dari hidup itu sendiri." "Hidup adalah ular. Keduanya sama, Firdaus. Bila ular itu menyadari kau bukan ular dia akan menggigitmu. Dan bila hidup itu tahu kau tidak punya sengatan, ia akan menghancurkanmu.

She no longer fears anything, for everything which can hurt her she has already undergone.

I knew I hated him as only a woman can hate a man, as only a slave can hate his master. I saw from the expression in his eyes that he feared me as only a master can fear his slave, as only a man can fear a woman.

Yes, Fouada, there's another wall in your head, one you were not born with, but which day by day was erected out of long silence.