The machine will grind you down, but the machine is not bigger than the imagination. Rome fell in a day. We know this.
Suheir HammadRead
I understand now my father really thought he was doing me good. Education means a lot to Palestinians. We’ve become some of the most educated people in the world through our diaspora. We’ve had to be. When you ain’t got land, your degree may be your only solid ground. May father felt (feels) that being a doctor would give me security. How can I explain that I’m not safe from anything if I don’t write?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of education among Palestinians and the idea that writing can be a form of safety and self-expression.
In her quote, Suheir Hammad reflects on her father's belief that education, particularly in the medical field, would provide her with security in an unstable world. She articulates the deeper significance of education for Palestinians, who often feel their identity and safety are tied to their knowledge and ability to express themselves, suggesting that writing holds a unique power beyond conventional success in one’s career.
Themes
EducationPalestiniansWritingSecurityIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of education during a community event.
More from Suheir Hammad
All quotes →Similar quotes
We spend all our time teaching reading and writing. We spend absolutely no time at all, in most schools, teaching either speaking or, more importantly still, listening.
Julian TreasureRead
Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head.
Paul AusterRead
To read as if your life depended on it would mean to let into your reading your beliefs, the swirl of your dreamlife, the physical sensations of your ordinary carnal life; and simultaneously, to allow what you're reading to pierce routines, safe and impermeable, in which ordinary carnal life is tracked, charted, channeled. Then, what of the right answers, the so-called multiple-choice examination sheet with the number 2 pencil to mark one choice and one choice only?
Adrienne RichRead
Just what is it that academics have to fear if they stand up for common decency, instead of letting campus barbarians run amok?
Thomas SowellRead
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teach—it is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
Sydney J. HarrisRead
A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
Thomas PaineRead