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Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes

27 Powerful Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes That Are Sure To Move You

Famous As: Critic of Islam and Advocate of Women Rights

Born On: 1969

Born In: Mogadishu, Somalia

Founder / Co Founder: AHA Foundation

Age: 55 Years

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an activist, politician, feminist and writer. She is known to for fighting against all odds for the rights of Islamic women. After completing her graduation she joined the Netherland’s Labor Party as a researcher on immigration issues where she strongly criticized the Dutch laws towards immigrants. This helped her to shift to the liberal People’s Party where she was elected to the Dutch Parliament. During her term in the Parliament, she was known for her straightforward stance on the treatment of ladies in Islam. She further came into the limelight as an activist when she collaborated with the director ‘Theo Van Gogh’ to make the controversial documentary ‘Submission’ which described the abuse of Islamic women. This created a lot of controversy and eventually made her resign from the parliament. Thereafter, she moved to the U.S. There she published her debut novel ‘The Caged Virgin’ which aimed at the absence of intervention by western societies in Islamic countries to stop women abuse. She further wrote a couple of novels which justified her reputation as a feminist. Her contributions as an activist were honored by various awards including the ‘European Bellwether prize’. Here is a compilation of quotes and thoughts by Ayaan Hirsi Ali which have been excerpted from her writings, books, speeches, interviews and work. Go through these notable sayings and quotations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali on freedom, self-expression, human rights, infidel, Muslims, fear, veil and liberalism.

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Activists

Civil Rights Activists

Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

However, some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.

However, some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I would like to be judged on the validity of my arguments, not as a victim.

I would like to be judged on the validity of my arguments, not as a victim.
Like I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

There are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.

There are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Drinking wine and wearing trousers were nothing compared to reading the history of ideas.

Drinking wine and wearing trousers were nothing compared to reading the history of ideas.
History
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Reality is not easy, but all this make-believe doesn't make it easier.

Reality is not easy, but all this make-believe doesn't make it easier.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

You'll be pleased to hear, Christopher, that I am no longer a Muslim liberal but an atheist [....] I find that it obviates the necessity for any cognitive dissonance.

You'll be pleased to hear, Christopher, that I am no longer a Muslim liberal but an atheist [....] I find that it obviates the necessity for any cognitive dissonance.
I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Wishful thinking about the peaceful tolerance of Islam cannot interpret away this reality: hands are still cut off, women still stoned and enslaved, just as the Prophet Muhammad decided centuries ago.

Wishful thinking about the peaceful tolerance of Islam cannot interpret away this reality: hands are still cut off, women still stoned and enslaved, just as the Prophet Muhammad decided centuries ago.
Women
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I lived in countries that had no democracy... so I don't find myself in the same luxury as you do. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don't know what it is not to have freedom.

I lived in countries that had no democracy... so I don't find myself in the same luxury as you do. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don't know what it is not to have freedom.
You I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

...Bear true witness, even if it be against yourselves, your parents or your family.

...Bear true witness, even if it be against yourselves, your parents or your family.
Family
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I would rather clean than beg.
I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is considered more important than God's holy book, whichever holy book that may be, and God matters only in your private life.

In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is considered more important than God's holy book, whichever holy book that may be, and God matters only in your private life.
Life God
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

As a reader, I could put on someone else's shoes and live through his adventures, borrow his individuality and make choices that I didn't have at home.

As a reader, I could put on someone else's shoes and live through his adventures, borrow his individuality and make choices that I didn't have at home.
Home I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

But without doubts, without a standpoint reached through questionings, human beings can't acquire knowledge.

But without doubts, without a standpoint reached through questionings, human beings can't acquire knowledge.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

It takes a long time to dissolve the bars of a mental cage.

It takes a long time to dissolve the bars of a mental cage.
Time
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

A virgin's silence is the proper answer to a marriage proposal; it signifies a dignified consent.

A virgin's silence is the proper answer to a marriage proposal; it signifies a dignified consent.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

You must learn what to fear and what not to fear.

You must learn what to fear and what not to fear.
You Fear
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Such is the tragedy of girls and women who by the strictures of their upbringing and culture cannot own up to their body's desires, even to themselves.

Such is the tragedy of girls and women who by the strictures of their upbringing and culture cannot own up to their body's desires, even to themselves.
Women Culture
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The key imperatives of modernity: freedom of conscience, tolerance of difference, equality of the sexes, and an investment in life before death.

The key imperatives of modernity: freedom of conscience, tolerance of difference, equality of the sexes, and an investment in life before death.
Life Death
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Multiculturalism should not mean that we tolerate another culture’s intolerance.

Multiculturalism should not mean that we tolerate another culture’s intolerance.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Most of all, I think it was the novels that saved me from submission. I was young, but the first tiny, meek beginnings of my rebellion had already clicked into place.

Most of all, I think it was the novels that saved me from submission. I was young, but the first tiny, meek beginnings of my rebellion had already clicked into place.
Me Think Young I
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This move is called Qworegoys,
and the women of my grandmother's family taught it to their daughters just as they taught them to make thorn-bush fences to protect the hut from hyenas.

This move is called Qworegoys, and the women of my grandmother's family taught it to their daughters just as they taught them to make thorn-bush fences to protect the hut from hyenas.
Family Women
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Adults never explained anything. They saw children as akin to small animals, creatures who had to be tugged and beaten into adulthood before they were worthy of information and discussion.

Adults never explained anything. They saw children as akin to small animals, creatures who had to be tugged and beaten into adulthood before they were worthy of information and discussion.
Never Children
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This wasn't just a band of frustrated Egyptian architects in Hamburg. It was much bigger than that,. and had nothing to do with frustration. It was about belief.

This wasn't just a band of frustrated Egyptian architects in Hamburg. It was much bigger than that,. and had nothing to do with frustration. It was about belief.
Belief
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Force and rape are not an issue because he is a believing Muslim and he is an Osman Mahamud.

Force and rape are not an issue because he is a believing Muslim and he is an Osman Mahamud.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Confronted with such flagrant acts of intolerance—such abuses of the freedom of speech—a free society must surely do more. For intolerance is the one thing a free society cannot afford to tolerate.

Confronted with such flagrant acts of intolerance—such abuses of the freedom of speech—a free society must surely do more. For intolerance is the one thing a free society cannot afford to tolerate.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In short, the liberation of the individual conscience from hierarchical and priestly authority opened up space for critical thinking in every field of human activity.

In short, the liberation of the individual conscience from hierarchical and priestly authority opened up space for critical thinking in every field of human activity.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali