53 quotes found
"There’s nobody here for the day out. To be able to go home with a medal is fantastic. It’s not a personal best, there is more in me, but any day I can throw over 30 is a good day really. I am gaining on her (Nassima Saifi) all the time and the plan is to close the gap and maybe some day take her down. We’ll have to put more work in and see where we can get more distance out of it."
"I am so pleased to get a personal best in this event and I am over the moon with a silver"
"Those girls I was racing against are specialists in breaststroke so to go against them in my ‘fun’ event was really exciting. I have had to do a lot more events than other swimmers so to get silver, I could not ask for more. I have not had a season’s best in that event this season, so hopefully this is the gala where I get it."
"It was a triumph for women all over the world to stand up to their enemies, That's what made me really proud."
"My father worried a lot about me - it was an enormous stress for him,I knew that what I was doing was an incredible burden for him."
"As I crossed the line, I thrust a fist into the air, It was a symbol of victory, of defiance. It was to say:I did it! I won!"
"That year I didn't run a single race in Algeria, It was simply too risky. I could have been killed at any moment."
"Tradition is not really a problem. The thinking has evolved enormously. Women’s emancipation has really progressed. Women can choose what sport they want."
"Women’s sport in general is very weak, We still need a good sports policy. There’s a lot of work to do."
"I was screaming for Algeria's pride and Algeria's history, and still more."
"Several leaders of political parties told me, You did what we haven't been able to do for years. You brought us together."
"My parents came originally from the remote countryside. But for 10 years my father drove a truck in France and sent money home to our family."
"You can't be a champion in a week or a year, You must accept a time of suffering."
"I like to keep things simple, not be a star. But I've become a representative of all Algeria, and of young women in particular."
"Every year it gets harder to balance my training, my friends, my other interests and my duty to visit my parents and take care of them."
"My race at the world championships was the first time I ever felt complete confidence in myself."
"In athletics, on the track, I learned to suffer, to love my country, to concentrate, to take responsibility."
"I believe you can express your self in sport maybe better than in any other field. All that, and it brings everyone together, too."
"I'm fully qualified, I'm a woman, I was born a woman, I lived a woman, there's no doubt about that. These people, they are the enemies of success, it's what I call them, it gives my success a special taste because of these attacks."
"The school cannot remain isolated from the upheavals that ripple through society."
"The 18 months I spent there were hardly sufficient to reform the administration and address the issue of schoolbook availability."
"I am not opposed to learning French; my objection lies with the ideological attachment to the language."
"The abundance of political parties has not been matched by quality. Rather than having budget-draining political parties, I would prefer a more engaged and active civil society."
"If it is not "purged of opportunists," it will no longer be worthy of the historic acronym that all Algerians hold in high regard."
"The time for forgiveness has over now, the focus must be on the essential task of recovering the archives."
"I regret that what is commonly called the Arab Spring did not transition into an autumn. While the conditions for revolt were present in the affected countries, the events that unfolded in the region seem to have followed very particular agendas."
"You deserve freedom. You owe it to yourself. You are anything but selfish whenever you decide to stand up for yourself!"
"He told me that I was a legend and an idol for him, it touched me deeply."
"No, I didn't have time to take photos, I had young children, all that..."
"I consider that even while working, I'm on vacation! When you're on stage and you see people enjoying every moment of their moments of relaxation, you also feel like you're on vacation!"
"You know, it's during the summer season that my team is most in demand. This is the case, moreover, for all the other artists. I only take my vacations in the winter. Generally, it's in January-February and, each time, I choose a new destination,"
"so that the current does not sweep us away.""
"Like many writers, I use my culture and I collect several imaginary worlds.”"
"First it was the language of the enemy,, “then it became a kind of stepmother, in relation to the maternal tongue of Arabic."
"there were only men in the streets of Algiers."
"Assia Djebar, Novelist Who Wrote About Oppression of Arab Women, Dies at 78, By Maïa de la Baume, retrieved on Feb. 13, 2015"
"I am not a symbol"
"Each of my books is a step towards the understanding of the North African identity and an attempt to enter modernity."
"Aljezera,Assia Djebar: Algeria’s ‘immortal’ literary hero, retrieved on 30 Jun 2017"
"It is with extreme sadness that we mourn the great Assia Djebar, who passed away this week,” said the publisher in a statement."
"Her novels and poems boldly face the challenges and struggles she knew as a feminist living under patriarchy and an intellectual living under colonialism and its aftermath. Djebar’s writing, marked by a regal unwillingness to compromise in the face of ethical, linguistic, and narrative complexities, has attracted devoted followers around the world.”"
"Assia Djebar, Algerian novelist, dies aged 78Alison FloodMon 9 Feb 2015"
"I walked past my school again, it was on rue Saint Jacques, and I cried a little bit, that's where I grew up. It's very funny because it was in Paris that I learned to love my country, which is Algeria, and Egypt, and music, and the Arab world."
"You have killed thousands of Libyans and you continue to mow-down a large number of innocent people in Syria...You swear you didn't bear weapons, but I assure you that you have the most powerful weapon of mass destruction: the media. If you misuse the media, you will kill the son of Arabism.""
"Such a big loss to the Arab World, I'm truly so sad about the death of the great artist and the legend Warda. May her soul rest in peace!"
"A voice that inspired and joined whole generations."
"While writing for Arab readers, it is very important to think about how to get your ideas across. In order to reach everyone, you should make sure to transmit your messages without provoking or drawing the attention of political, religious, and social censorship. Skilled writers are skilled smugglers of ideas. They encrypt their ideas to get their message across smoothly."
"I would, first, advise them to start writing about what they know best (i.e. themselves, their immediate environments, feelings, etc.). Writers should also hone their craft by constant practice, producing many drafts, as haste is a detriment to a writer’s success. My last piece of advice is that, when they achieve success, they should not become arrogant; arrogance can incapacitate writers. Voltaire rightfully says that “the writer dies suffocating under bouquets of flowers.”"
"I have spent many years in Paris. I got married there, started my small family there, and received my PhD at the Sorbonne. Thus, I am very familiar with the issues that could have attracted French and Western media, and paved the way to my fame at the international level; however, I am not interested in that fame. Glory and fame do not mean much to me. I understand that many Algerian writers might have a different attitude, which I respect. But for me, nothing equals the glory of being close to your people and heritage."
"When we lose a love, we write a poem; when we lose our homeland, we write a novel"
"have covered so many wars in so many countries. In Iraq, you could always have got unlucky and caught up in a suicide bombing. In Lebanon, there had been safe areas and risky ones. In Libya, for the most part, it was clearer who was fighting and who was a non-combatant."
"In Syria, the war that I witnessed was different: It was one fought among civilians, among neighbors."
"Her work usually covers "conflict, humanitarian issues, and stories about women and politics" and is largely based in countries suffering from internal conflict – social, economic, or humanitarian."