Hisham Matar Quotes

A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle between rage and hope, between the temptation to destroy and the desire to build.

But now with the living conditions deteriorating, and with the sure knowledge that we are slated for destruction, we have been transformed into an implacable army of liberation.

O posterity, sweet and tender hope of humanity, thou art not a stranger to us; it is for thee that we brace all the blows of tyranny, it is thy happiness which is the price of our painful struggles: often discouraged by the obstacles that surround us, we fell the need of they consolations; it is to thee that we confide the task of completing our labors, and the destiny of all the unborn generations of men… Make haste, O posterity, to bring to pass the hour of equality, of justice, of happiness!

We know what the birth of a revolution looks like: A student stands before a tank. A fruit seller sets himself on fire. A line of monks link arms in a human chain. Crowds surge, soldiers fire, gusts of rage pull down the monuments of tyrants, and maybe, sometimes, justice rises from the flames.

Where terrorists offer injustice, disorder and destruction, the United States and its allies stand for freedom, fairness, equality, hope, and opportunity.

A revolutionary poem will not tell you who or when to kill, what and when to burn, or even how to theorize. It reminds you... where and when and how you are living and might live, it is a wick of desire.

Blood alone moves the wheels of history.

In that first blow to the deaf walls of those who have everything, the blood of our people, our blood, ran generously to wash away injustice. To live, we die. Our dead once again walked the way of truth. Our hope was fertilized with mud and blood.

New ideas should confront old ideas. We must refer to the example of Europe. People have fought to make Europe what it is today. Freedom is not something that is served up on a plate.

This nation was founded by rebels and revolutionaries, and its flags were carried across the battlefields by people who were very, very against the status quo and who questioned and criticized.

Security isn't what I hunger for. I hunger for change. I hunger for connection.

Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second generation full of courage issue forth; let a people loving freedom come to growth.

History teaches us to beware of the excitation of the liberated and the injustices that often accompany their righteous thirst for justice.

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.

My fellow revolutionaries, liberation is a noble cause. We must fight to obtain it.

In the name of all that is dear to you…we ask you to help… Those who have died for liberty…accuse you who are able to help and who have not helped… We have read an appeal to the UN and every honest man…

Liberty has its roots in blood.

In any social revolution the one thing that keeps it alive is hope.

The Law! It is the arch-crime of the centuries. The path of Man is soaked with the blood it has shed. Can this great criminal determine Right? Is a revolutionist to respect such a travesty? It would mean the perpetuation of human slavery.

For we went, changing our country more often than our shoes In the class war, despairing When there was only injustice and no resistance

If it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done. [He was executed.]

The wounds of my country will heal after the troubles of anarchy and bloody revolution. The peaceful Canadian will see happiness and liberty on the St. Lawrence. Everything converges towards that end, even the executions; the blood and tears spilled on the altar of liberty today of watering the roots of the tree on which will fly the flag marked with the two stars of the Canadas.

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny

The past is lying in flames. The future will rise from the flames within our hearts.

Throughout the history of mankind there have been murderers and tyrants; and while it may seem momentarily that they have the upper hand, they have always fallen. Always.