"I am speaking the truth now without any difficulty. For the truth is always easy and simple. And in its simplicity lies a savage power. I only arrived at the savage, primitive truths of life after years of struggle. For it is only very rarely that people can arrive at the simple, but awesome and powerful truths of life after only a few years. And to have arrived at the truth means that one no longer fears death. For death and truth are similar in that they both require a great courage if one wishes to face them. And truth is like death in that it kills. When I killed I did it with truth not with a knife. That is why they are afraid and in a hurry to execute me. They do not fear my knife. It is my truth which frightens them. This fearful truth gives me great strength. It protects me from fearing death, or life, or hunger, or nakedness, or destruction. It is this fearful truth which prevents me from fearing the brutality of rulers and policemen. I spit with ease on their lying faces and words, on their lying newspapers"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Woman at Point Zero
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nawal_El_Tatawy
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Nawal El Tatawy
Nawal El Tatawy (born 14 September 1942) is an Egyptian politician and economist who was the minister of economy and foreign trade from 2 January 1996 to 8 July 1997. She worked at various institutions in different capacities, including the National Bank of Egypt and the World Bank.
37 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nawal El Tatawy →
Related Quotes
"They said, “You are a savage and dangerous woman.”I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous."
"Yet not for a single moment did I have any doubts about my own integrity and honour as a woman. I knew that my profes…"
"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…"
"Writing: such has been my crime ever since I was a small child. To this day writing remains my crime. Now, although I…"
"Men impose deception on women and punish them for being deceived, force them down to the lowest level and punish them…"
"Solidarity between women can be a powerful force of change, and can influence future development in ways favourable n…"
"Everybody has to die. I prefer to die for a crime I have committed rather than to die for one of the crimes which you…"
"Revolutionary men with principles were not really different from the rest. They used their cleverness to get, in retu…"
"Memory is never complete. There are always parts of it that time has amputated. Writing is a way of retrieving them, …"
"Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself"