Quotes from Desert Flower

Waris Dirie ·  240 pages

Rating: (14K votes)


“I feel that God made my body perfect the way I was born. Then man robbed me, took away my power, and left me a cripple. My womanhood was stolen. If God had wanted those body parts missing, why did he create them?
I just pray that one day no woman will have to experience this pain. It will become a thing of the past. People will say "Did you hear, female genital mutilation has been outlawed in Somalia?" Then the next country, and the next, and so on, until the world is safe for all women. What a happy day that will be, and that's what I'm working toward. In'shallah, if God is willing, it will happen. ”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower


“My mother named me after a miracle of nature: Waris means desert flower. The desert flower blooms in a barren environment where few living things can survive.”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower


“Women’s loyalty has to be earned with trust and affection, rather than barbaric rituals. The time has come to leave the old ways of suffering behind”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower


“Many friends have expressed concern that a religious fanatic will try to kill me when I go to Africa. After all, I’ll be speaking out against a crime many fundamentalists consider a holy practice. I’m sure my work will be dangerous, and I admit to being scared…. But my faith tells me to be strong, that God led me down this path for a reason. He has work for me to do. This is my mission. And I believe that long before the day I was born, God chose the day I will die, so I can’t change that. In the meantime, I might as well take a chance, because that’s what I’ve done all my life.”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower


“The people celebrate with our traditional dancing: the women clapping their hands and chanting, their low sweet voices humming across the desert night, and the men leaping high into the air. Everyone contributes food, and we eat”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower



“When the shows begin in Milan for the season, every woman and girl in modeling heads there, along with every woman and girl who’s ever dreamed of becoming a model. Suddenly the city is mobbed by extremely tall mutant women, running everywhere like ants.”
― Waris Dirie, quote from Desert Flower


About the author

Waris Dirie
Born place: Galkacyo, Somalia
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“There are moments on stage when everything comes together. Then the kid in the front row coughs.”
― Connie Brockway, quote from The Bridal Season


“Your eyes have turned as black as a Crow’s,” she blurted out.

He didn’t even blink over her bizarre comment. “Not this time, Christina,” he said in a furious whisper. “Compliments won’t get me off balance again, my little temptress. I swear to God, if you ever again dismiss me so casually, I’m going to––”

“Oh, it wasn’t a compliment,” Christina interrupted, letting him see her irritation. “How presumptuous of you to think it was. The Crow is our enemy.”
― Julie Garwood, quote from The Lion's Lady


“Не знаю, как другие женщины, а моя жена так сотворена, что даже если она занималась этим днем и продолжила ночью, и так день за днем, ей все будет мало. После встречи с любовником проделать то же самое с ненавистным мужем должно быть невыносимой пыткой, но она - исключение. Даже, если я ей противен, её плоть не может мне отказать. Как бы ни пыталась она меня отвергнуть, вожделение возьмет верх, и она подчинится ему с еще большим самозабвением. Я забыл, что именно это делает шлюху шлюхой...”
― Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, quote from The Key


“نحن الحائرون بين الواقع القبيح والحلم الذي لا يتحقق”
― Naguib Mahfouz, quote from The Journey of Ibn Fattouma


“even if I could go back in time to her as me, the age I am now she would never come into my arms without believing that I wanted something.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems


Interesting books

Invisible
(2.9K)
Invisible
by Cecily Anne Paterson
First Night of Summer
(227)
Sleepeth Not, the Bastard
(18)
Sleepeth Not, the Ba...
by Dave Matthes
Earth Sentinels: The Storm Creators
(35)
Earth Sentinels: The...
by Elizabeth M. Herrera
Like a Beggar
(230)
Like a Beggar
by Ellen Bass
The Sordid Promise
(1.8K)
The Sordid Promise
by Courtney Lane

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.