A fascinating book and a great pleasure to read: Betool Khedairi is a talented new voice in fiction.

Everything that happened to you is a page that's been turned and is done with.

If you can't find good in your own country, you won't find it anywhere else.

Illiteracy does not impede the practice of democracy, as witnessed by the success of democracy in India despite the high illiteracy rate. One doesn't need a university diploma to realize that the ruler is oppressive and corrupt. On the other hand, to eradicate illiteracy requires that we elect a fair and efficient political regime.

I am according to my slave's expectations of me: if good, then good, and if bad, then bad.

Revolution is like a love story. When you are in love, you become a much better person. And when you are in revolution, you become a much better person.

Egyptians are like camels: they can put up with beatings, humiliation and starvation for a long time but when they rebel they do so suddenly and with a force that is impossible to control.