Home / Quotes / Quote by Edward Said

Quote by Edward Said

“It was thought that to rally Islam against godless communism would be doing the Soviet Union a very bad turn indeed, and that, in fact, transpired.”

Quote by Edward Said

Book:Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said

Work

Culture and Resistance: Conversations with Edward W. Said

This book features in-depth conversations with Edward W. Said, exploring his perspectives on culture, resistance, and their intersections in the modern world. more

Author

Edward Said was a distinguished American academic, cultural critic, and public intellectual. He served as a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and is widely recognized for his seminal work 'Orientalism', which critically examines the West's depiction of the East. Born on November 1, 1935, in Jerusalem, he passed away on September 24, 2003. more

You May Also Like

“In 1985, a group of mujahedeen came to Washington and was greeted by President Reagan, who called them "freedom fighters." These people, by the way, don't represent Islam in any formal sense. They're not imams or sheiks. They are self-appointed warriors for Islam.”

People Way Self President Groups Islam Fighter Warrior Formal Freedom Fighter President Reagan

Author:Edward Said

“Osama bin Laden, who is a Saudi, feels himself to be a patriot because the U.S. has forces in Saudi Arabia, which is sacred because it is the land of the prophet Mohammed.”

Feels Force Land Sacred Prophet Patriot Bin Laden Arabia Saudi Arabia Saudis Osama Bin Laden Prophet Mohammed

Author:Edward Said

“There is also this great sense of triumphalism, that just as we defeated the Soviet Union, we can do this. And out of this sense of desperation and pathological religion, there develops an all-encompassing drive to harm and hurt, without regard for the innocent and the uninvolved, which was the case in New York.”

Can Do Hurt Cases New York Regard Unions Harm Innocent Soviet Defeated Desperation Soviet Union

Author:Edward Said

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.”

Source: The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works

“And what terrifies me is that we're entering a phase where if you start to speak about this as something that can be understood historically - without any sympathy - you are going to be thought of as unpatriotic, and you are going to be forbidden. It's very dangerous. It is precisely incumbent on every citizen to quite understand the world we're living in and the history we are a part of and we are forming as a superpower.”

Ifs World Speak Dangerous Citizens Understood Phases Entering Forbidden Superpower Incumbents Unpatriotic

Author:Edward Said

“There's been essentially the same analysis over and over again and very little allowance made for different views and interpretations and reflections.”

Littles Made Different Views Reflection Analysis Interpretation Allowance Different Views

Author:Edward Said

“What is quite worrisome is the absence of analysis and reflection. Take the word "terrorism." It has become synonymous now with anti-Americanism, which, in turn, has become synonymous with being critical of the United States, which, in turn, has become synonymous with being unpatriotic. That's an unacceptable series of equations.”

States Turns United United States Reflection Series Critical Terrorism Absence Analysis Equations Americanism Unpatriotic

Author:Edward Said

“The definition of terrorism has to be more precise, so that we are able to discriminate between, for example, what it is that the Palestinians are doing to fight the Israeli military occupation and terrorism of the sort that resulted in the World Trade Center bombing.”

World Able Fighting Military Example Trade Definitions Terrorism Occupation Palestinian Precise Israeli Bombing World Trade World Trade Center

Author:Edward Said

“Take a young man from Gaza living in the most horrendous conditions - most of it imposed by Israel - who straps dynamite around himself and then throws himself into a crowd of Israelis. I've never condoned or agreed with it, but at least it is understandable as the desperate wish of a human being who feels himself being crowded out of life and all of his surroundings, who sees his fellow citizens, other Palestinians, his parents, sisters, and brothers, suffering, being injured, or being killed. He wants to do something, to strike back.”

“The people who perpetrated the terror of the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings are something different because these people were obviously not desperate and poor refugee dwellers. They were middle class, educated enough to speak English, to be able to go to flight school, to come to America, to live in Florida.”