Nationalists

"So if the traditions and culture of the Eastern community are blindly compelled to hurt a woman’s dignity, insult and degrade her in the name of cultural unity, then I am ready to burn myself. If it means facing prosecution and rejection to highlight these difficult truths, I intend to vocalize my pain and start a revolution for the silent women who faced centuries of oppression."

"the mother of the Egyptian feminist movement"

"The Arab woman who is equal to the man in duties and obligations will not accept, in the twentieth century, the distinctions between the sexes that the advanced countries have done away with. The Arab woman will not agree to be chained in slavery and to pay for the consequences of men's mistakes with respect to her country's rights and the future of her children. The woman also demands with her loudest voice to be restored her political rights, rights granted to her by the Sharia and dictated to her by the demands of the present. The advanced nations have recognised that the man and the woman are to each other like the brain and heart are to the body; if the balance between these two organs is upset the system of the whole body will be upset. Likewise, if the balance between the two sexes in the nation is upset it will disintegrate and collapse. The advanced nations, after careful examination into the matter, have come to believe in the equality of sexes in all rights even though their religious and secular laws have not reached the level Islam has reached in terms of justice towards the woman. Islam has given her the right to vote for the ruler and has allowed her to give opinions on questions of jurisprudence and religion. The woman, given by the Creator the right to vote for the successor of the Prophet, is deprived of the right to vote for a deputy in a circuit or district election by a (male) being created by God."

"...Every woman who does not stand up for her legitimate rights would be considered as not standing up for the rights of her country and the future of her children and society. Every man who is pushed by his selfishness to trespass on the legitimate rights of women is robbing the rights of others and bringing harm to his country. He is an obstacle preventing the country from benefiting from the abilities and efforts of half the nation or more. He is impeding the advancement of his country and preventing it from being placed in the position it deserves - among the advanced nations whose civilisation was built on the shoulders of women and men together, just as Arab civilisation at the beginning of Islam was built on the co-operation and equality of the two sexes. Now after this feminist conference and the presentation of the cause of women to the public and the placing of its documents in a historical archive, it is incumbent upon man to record on his own page in the historical record that which will honour him and justify his stand before God, the nation, and future generations."

"I see myself as a foreigner in my community. This is because my thoughts do not match their thoughts, and their thoughts do not match mine. My community doesn't consider me to be a real woman because they are unwilling to accept a woman who objects or defends her gender. To them, I am not a woman because I am strong and stand against them. They believe that strength is for men and weakness for women."

"You would have been much pleased, I am sure, by meeting with General Paoli, who spent the day there, and was extremely communicative and agreeable. I had seen him in large companies, but was never made known to him before; nevertheless, he conversed with me as if well acquainted not only with myself, but my connexions,—inquiring of me when I had last seen Mrs. Montagu? and calling Sir Joshua Reynolds, when he spoke of him, my friend. He is a very pleasing man, tall and genteel in his person, remarkably well bred, and very mild and soft in his manners."

"In a country which wishes to remain free, every citizen must be a soldier, and hold himself always ready to arm himself for the defence of his rights. Disciplined troops act more in the interest of despotism than of freedom. Rome ceased to be free on the day on which she had paid soldiers, and the invincible phalanxes of Sparta were formed from a levy en masse. Lastly, as soon as there is a standing army, an esprit de corps is formed; people speak of the valour of this or that regiment, of this or that company. These are more serious evils than is commonly supposed; and it is good to avoid them as much as possible. We ought to speak of the firm resolve manifested by this or that commune, of the self-sacrifice of the members of this or that family, of the valour of the citizens of so-and-so; in this manner is the emulation of a free nation roused. When our manners shall be as refined as they ought to be, our whole nation will be disciplined, and our militia invincible."

"Religion is an essential part of public order. Without a belief in God we would soon loose our confidence in victory."

"French enthusiasm is a vapour. If someone writes an article, if someone speaks in a club, if a few hot heads present an address to the Convention, then down goes the altar set up to today's idol and the string is ripped from the garlands to form a noose for his neck. The lanterne is not far from the Pantheon. If Franklin with his buckleless shoes and leather-stripped breeches arrived in France today, his sober dress would not save him from being hanged as an aristocrat. He would be a diversion, not to the elegant ladies of Versailles, but to the murderous shrews at the foot of the guillotine."

"Every Corsican should be a soldier enlisted in the Militia, ready to defend his country: but outside these duties he ought to cultivate the land."

"Some have called me a tyrant. Well, if they come here they will find that, far from Corsica being a despotism, we have a government here which would serve as a model for any Department in France. Those who call me despot are those who fear me as an obstacle to their partisan and privy projects."

"It's not because I am proud, gentlemen, that I refuse your generous offer. But the state of our public finances forbids you to be so free with your money. The public good always comes before private interest."

"But what is [Bartolomeo] Arena but a four-day patriot? I drank in liberty with my mother's milk, but they and their connections whirl about with every wind. My patriotism is of long standing. I have been a patriot for 65 years. I am hardly likely to submit to the censure of slaves who have known liberty for only three."

"The countryside of France is cultivated but the masses there have no return from their labours. There are more cooking pots and kitchen spits in England, Switzerland and Holland than in all the rest of Europe. In those places you do not see a ragged man or an emaciated countenance. The miracles of Liberty are more frequent, more grand and more useful than those of Saint Anthony of Padua."

"This nomination belongs to you, gentlemen. Are you eager so soon to give up your privileges? If I do not abuse the confidence with which you honour me today, someone else will abuse it tomorrow. Nature has provided you with abundant reason and good sense and you would be wise always to use them and look with a certain suspicion on power vested in a single individual."

"We are brothers and not subjects. If our loyalty is proved the Commissioners ought not to arraign themselves against us. Certainly our people will not suffer arbitrary power and the abuse of authority under a Republican constitution. The Corsican people cannot be reconciled to despotism."

"Though the Altar should nourish its ministers, the tithes of those who fail to serve that Altar are the property of the poor."

"Make an effort to overcome the fears of old age. Tell me, would you wish to see me at your death-bed knowing in your last moments that your son was a coward and a coward through your advice? Look back over your life. Was not the day of your departure from Corsica the last day of your glory? ... Before you press me on religious sentiments, read and reread the Roman histories and recall to your mind those models you once sought to emulate. With these in your mind you will give me much better counsel."

"My countrymen, Liberty does not go to confession: we leave distinctions of that kind to the Inquisitors of the Holy Office; we have a law here which says that any honest man who lives on the soil of our country is able to take part in the nomination of his magistrates and his representatives: you should obey that law."

"Your fellow citizens in electing you to represent them at this Consulta have placed their dearest interests in your hands. You know their needs, you share their sympathies, and their customs: so examine your consciences, enlighten each other by frank discussion, and be convinced that the resolutions you will take together will become the law of the land, because what they represent will be the sincere expression of the will of the country. Gentleman, let us search our our good together, and work hard to assure the well-being of our community; let us strive calmly and intelligently to undo our enemies' plans which, as you have already seen, count on our divisions to destroy us. We have never yet been defeated and now victory has once more alighted on our standard; but recent events reveal the need of all true patriots to be ever vigilant and ready to oppose the enemies of our State. Let each one of us remember what he owes to his country and resolve that he will seek his own good only in the good of all."

"I am determined that the "other side of the mountains" must form part of the Corsican State, all Corsica must be free."

"Already our nation has shown how little claim the Genoese had to our island. All the powers of Europe, especially France, have recognised us in practice as a free and independent people. So France has treated us, until the last few years. Even if Genoa had possessed the sovereignty she falsely claimed would she now be able to transfer it to another nation without the consent of those she professed to govern? She has no right to do so, for the basis of sovereignty is the people."

"The island will only know efficient government if the vendetta can be stamped out."

"Let each take up his appointed position. We will show them that we are not to be treated like a flock of old sheep bought in a market place, for that is what they are trying to do. Always there have been strangers between ourselves and the Genoese, preventing us from a decision by negotiating or by the force of our arms, and always, as a result, Justice and Honour have been trampled in the mud. Now we are face to face with our last enemy. Citizens, I know the danger is great but I know, too, we are not accustomed to count the number of our foes."

"The vendetta is finished. The old, happy, carefree festivals of the villages which have been abandoned for so long can now be resumed."

"For 23 years, the country was led by a lowlife who managed to ‘blow dust in the eyes’ of a significant part of the population. Now he is the last island of legitimacy and stability of the state. But the country will not be able to withstand another six years of this cowardly bum in power."

"Our commander in chief is not going to win this war at all."

"Whatever victories our army achieves in this war, we are going to lose it with this kind of approach of the country's leadership."

"I consider myself more competent in military affairs than the current president, and certainly than the current minister of defense, therefore I could fulfill the duties of the supreme commander in chief as required by the Constitution of the Russian Federation."

"The majority of mobilized (and most of the regular) servicemen of the RF Armed Forces have no motivation to sacrifice in the conduct of hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since the goals of the war are not only not explained by the authorities, but are not even officially defined at all. At the same time, the disciplinary measures that are at the disposal of the command of the RF Armed Forces “according to the laws of peacetime” are not enough to make military personnel fear them more than death and injury from enemy fire."

"I am not afraid to say that we are moving toward military defeat."

"He's never seen a tank except in a parade, what's wrong with his head? He's really acting not even like an old man, but like a child."

"My arrest happened a month after Prigozhin's rebellion. My biggest fear is that instead of the usual criminal punishment, I will be "amnestied" in the same way as the Cook."

"The war in Ukraine will continue until the complete defeat of Russia. We have already lost, the rest is just a matter of time."

"Once the indictment is pronounced, I have no place on Earth where I would be recognized as a law-abiding citizen. In the West, I have already been recognized as a terrorist after the verdict of the Hague Tribunal. And in my homeland, apparently, a dubious reputation as an extremist awaits me."

"Thus, it will be necessary to try and defeat the enemy in field battles. And, excuse me, with whom, and with what?! If so far not even the partial mobilisation has been carried out?! No one is giving clear answers to these questions. Simply because there aren't any."

"The war has passed the 21st month, there is no end in sight."

"I am of sound mind and memory, I really want to participate in the presidential elections, in case the opportunity presents itself, which is extremely unlikely."

"When [Russian troops] weakened in heavy fights and bloody assaults reach the borders of [Donbas], they will be met by fresh and well-equipped [Ukrainian] units at frontiers prepared for defence in advance."

"Even if those fresh units for whatever reason decide not to take over the initiative and begin a counter-offensive - still the Russian Federation will face a perspective of a long positional war, which is nearly fatal (in current conditions) to our economy, social and socio-political situation."

"I have always believed that Russian blood should be shed exclusively for Russia, for the interests of the Russian people, and not for the selfish deeds of Russian oligarchs and political adventurers. Therefore, my attitude towards Prigozhin is purely negative."

"It's meaningless to hope for victory through attrition taking into account that almost all of Europe and North America are acting as a rear for [Ukraine]."

"For them, I’m an uncomfortable figure. They don’t know what to do with me: am I a hero or a terrorist? They can’t arrest me and put me in jail because that would be considered an admission to the West. To honor me Neither can they, so I’m caught between the chairs."

"Putin and his circle have recently embarked on a path that I believe will inevitably lead to a collapse of the system. We don’t know how yet, we don’t know when yet, but we’re sure it will collapse, and sooner rather than later."

"We must ask ourselves, does the superiority of the Russian Federation’s armed forces in aviation and heavy weapons guarantee victory over an enemy, for whom our offensive plans are obvious, which is prepared for defense and has high morale? My answer is NO — there is no guarantee."

"Even more : The enemy is quite successful in mobilizing and launching a counter-offensive."

"To my regret, I have to say that my most pessimistic predictions that we will be dragged into a bloody, long, draining and highly dangerous mess for the Russian Federation have come true."

"Without at least a partial mobilization in the Russian Federation, it will be impossible and highly dangerous to launch a deep strategic offensive against the so-called ‘Ukraine.’ We must prepare for a long and difficult war."

"If our forces advance at the speed of a limping invalid this could take a long time."

"29 days of the special operation have passed. No strategic success has been achieved in any direction."