Quotes by Nawal El Saadawi

About Nawal El Saadawi:

Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She has written many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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.

Nawal El Saadawi

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?'

Nawal El Saadawi

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.

Nawal El Saadawi

To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between fiction and nonfiction.

Nawal El Saadawi

When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.

Nawal El Saadawi

When you are intelligent and beautiful you face a lot of problems. If you are beautiful and stupid then it's easy.

Nawal El Saadawi

My three husbands were afraid of me. I am a very powerful woman.

Nawal El Saadawi

We here in Egypt are fed up with U.S. colonialism.

Nawal El Saadawi

Plastic surgery is a postmodern veil.

Nawal El Saadawi

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.

Nawal El Saadawi

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, n...

Nawal El Saadawi

The family code in Egypt is one of the worst family codes in the Arab world. Polygamy. The husband is having absolute power over the family.

Nawal El Saadawi

I am very much against makeup and high heels and all that we inherit as 'beauty.'

Nawal El Saadawi

To me, 'beauty' means to be natural, creative, honest - to say the truth.

Nawal El Saadawi

War criminals in the U.S. and Israel are not punished: no international court has the courage to put them on trial.

Nawal El Saadawi

Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Nawal El Saadawi

Home is where you are appreciated, safe and protected, creative, and where you are loved - not where you are put in prison.

Nawal El Saadawi

In history, the millions win; that is democracy.

Nawal El Saadawi

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.

Nawal El Saadawi

You know, I look to myself mainly as a creative writer all my life and a medical doctor.

Nawal El Saadawi

Author Bio

  • NameNawal El Saadawi
  • DescriptionEgyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist
  • BornOctober 27, 1931
  • CountryEgypt
  • ProfessionWoman Of Letters; Psychiatrist; Physician
  • AwardsSeán MacBride Peace Prize; Stig Dagerman Prize; North–South Prize