Quotes from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“ان التجربة التي خضتها داخل السجن كانت اغنى ألف مرة من تجارب اخرين خارجه. لقد اختبرت الوجه الاخر للحياة من ألم و خوف و رعب و معاناة و جوع و برد ... تعلمت ماذا ثعني الحياة و ماذا يعني الموت. و تأملت مليا في الخلق و الكون.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“Each day is a miracle that intoxicates me. I want more. I greet every morning like a new pleasure. And yet I am keenly aware of all life's artifices. Getting dressed, wearing make-up, laughing, having fun-isn't all that just playing a role? Am I not more profound, carrying the burden of those twenty years when I 'wasn't alive', than all those who rushed around in vain during that time?”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“I have lost years that I will never get back. Only now am I just beginning to live, on the verge of old age. It is painful and unfair. But today I have a different attitude to life: it can't be constructed from superficial things, no matter how attractive they may appear. Neither wealth not appearances have any importance now.
Pain gave me new life. It took a long time for me to die as Malika, General Oufkir's eldest daughter, the child of a powerful figure, of a past. I've gained an identity. My own identity. And that is priceless.
If there had not been all that waste, all that horror...I'd almost venture to say that my suffering made me grow. In any case, it changed me. for the better. It's as well to make the best of things.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“أني لأرثى لحال هؤلاء البشر الذين يعيشون خارج قضبان السجن ولم تتسنّ لهم الفرصة ليعرفوا القيمة الحقيقية للحياه”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“وماذا يعني الهجران؟
ليس هذا هو كل مايؤلمني ويمزقني. كل شيء يمضي ولايمرّ، إلّا أن يكون عدوك جزءاً لايتجرأ منك. وتلك هي المصيبة والهزيمة.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“فلتسقط الأقنعة .. لم نعد نؤمن بشئ ..!”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“أي طالع أشد سؤآ من أن تكون المرأه في محتمع لا يقدس الا الفحوله وويقود بالعصا قطيع النساء”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“فليرحل ربيع العمر عني .. لا أبالي.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“it will be miraculous, very miraculous.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“الأخوة عاطفة وإحساس وليست فقط عاماً وخبراً”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“One result of turning a blind eye to the horrors of the world, because you can stand only so much, is that you end up forgetting that each individual who is subjected to heinous suffering is your fellow, your equal, and that you could have been in their shoes, and that he or she could one day have become your friend.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“علمني السجن أن الإنسان أقوى من الظلم والقهر والطغيان والحرمان والتعذيب والمستحيل.”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

“لم نعرف أثناء احتجازنا في بير جديد ماذا يعني البيض الطبيعي. كانت القشرة الخارجية خضراء اللون, وفي داخلها سائل أسود اللون أيضا تنبعث منه رائحة كريهة تشمئز منها النفس. كنت أضعها في وعاء بعد أن أكسرها, وأتركها طوال الليل لتهوئتها, وفي الصباح كنت أخفقها مع قليل من السكر .أغمس قطع الخبز في المزيج ثم أقلبها بالزيت. وتصبح جاهزة للتوزيع, ما إن تزول الرائحة حتى تعم البهجة والسرور من زنزانة إلى أخرى. مزجها بالخبز أضاع طعمها الرديء إلى حد ما”
― Malika Oufkir, quote from Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

About the author

Popular quotes

“The system is broken! And one of the reasons it’s broken down here is that it’s largely run by and for black people. They simply do not place a high cultural value on education, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise any longer.” I can’t believe it. Like so many Yankee transplants, Caitlin has had a dramatic change of heart on the issue of race. But though I’ve seen it before, I would never have expected it from her. “That’s a pretty racist view, Caitlin.” “I’m not a racist,” she asserts. “I’m a realist.” “If I said those things, I’d be labeled a racist. Does being from Boston make it all right for you to espouse those views?”
― Greg Iles, quote from Turning Angel

“Behind this story so far is another story, as behind the girders of an ancient bridge is the skeleton of a child which superstition says keeps the bridge standing.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms

“Competitiveness is far more about doing what customers value than doing what you think you’re good at. And”
― Clayton M. Christensen, quote from The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

“Friendship, true friendship is a curious dance. Why does one recognize and embrace one soul and yet not another. What is that? That something unspoken. Perhaps it is a long ago remembrance of another time, another place, those same familiar eyes shining out. Always we are searching for those recognizable eyes…so that we might at last be recognized ourselves.”
― Karen Kondazian, quote from The Whip

“Insomnia

I wonder
If those talks matter
Few done in the clarity of day
Or the many
Done at 3 a.m. in the morning”
― Irum Zahra, quote from Psychaotic: See The World In Red And Black

Interesting books

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.