Any ambiguity in Islamic teachings, any mistake by an Islamic leader, any misinterpreta­tion of Islamic principles, any reactionary measure or policy… - Nawal El Saadawi

…This is everyone’s struggle—whether against men in the family, or against capitalism. It’s power. I don’t think that people in power can be convinced by words or articles. They will never give it up by choice. Even a husband in the house, no—power has to be taken with power…

I knew that [prostitution] had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another.

You ask me if I regret anything I've written. No, I regret none of my 47 books. If I started my life again I would write the same books. They are all very relevant even today: the issues of gender, class, colonialism (although of course that was British and is now American), female genital mutilation, male genital mutilation, capitalism, sexual rape and economic rape. My books have always taken on taboos – political, economic, sexual, religious taboos – but my most radical was my last play: God Resigns at the Summit Meeting. It will never be put on in a theatre, and of course it is totally banned in Egypt...as for my actions, I don't regret any of them either. What I did I had to do, whether it was running in the presidential election against [President] Mubarak [in 2005], divorcing two husbands, or challenging the system. What I regret was that I was not too radical. I compromised to live; my name was on death lists. You have to be a bit – but not too – diplomatic in order to survive in life. Nobody can tolerate the truth. The truth is very savage.