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1. When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.
2. 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.
3. You know, I look to myself mainly as a creative writer all my life and a medical doctor.
4. In history, the millions win; that is democracy.
5. 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.
6. We here in Egypt are fed up with U.S. colonialism.
7. 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.
8. I don’t think that people in power can be convinced by words or articles. They will never give it up by choice.
9. If you do not love yourself, well, you cannot do anything well, that’s my philosophy.
10. A lot of women are afraid of loneliness, so when they see a woman who can live alone, then they think, ‘Hmm, I can do that.’ But you need an example, and that is why I am proud to say I have divorced three husbands.
11. I am becoming more radical with age. I have noticed that writers, when they are old, become milder. But for me it is the opposite. Age makes me more angry.
12. Women in most countries have not achieved much, because they can’t be liberated under the patriarchal, capitalist, imperialist and military system that determines the way we live now, and which is governed by power, not justice, by false democracy, not real freedom.
13. Whenever I go to New York or any European country, they say: ‘Nawal, why don’t you get a facelift?’ I tell them, ‘I am proud of my wrinkles. Every wrinkle on my face tells the story of my life. Why should I hide my age?’
14. Unity is power; without unity women cannot fight for their rights anywhere.
15. Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages.
16. The feminists who are aware of the effects of patriarchy realize that we are all in the same boat from the dangers of patriarchy, and that the oppression of women is universal.
17. I am very much against makeup and high heels and all that we inherit as ‘beauty.’
18. When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.
19. When you are intelligent and beautiful you face a lot of problems. If you are beautiful and stupid then it’s easy.
20. My three husbands were afraid of me. I am a very powerful woman.