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

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