“It became clear to her that all men, however respectable in appearance and however elevated their position in society, were utter weaklings in front of a beautiful woman. - The Yacoubian Building, p. 42”

“He had worked out long ago that police officers evaluated a citizen on thebasis of three factors—his appearance, his occupation, and the way hespoke; according to this assessment, a citizen in a police station wouldeither be treated with respect or despised and beaten.”

“She represents the beauty of the common people in all its vulgarity and provocativeness.”

“Sheikh Bilal had takenhim aside the day before the wedding and spoken to him of marriageand his wife’s rights in the Law, stressing to him that there was nothingfor a Muslim to feel shy about in marrying a woman who was not avirgin and that a Muslim woman’s previous marriage ought not to be aweak point that her new husband could exploit against her. He saidsarcastically, “The secularists accuse us of puritanism and rigidity,even while they suffer from innumerable neuroses. You’ll find that ifone of them marries a woman who was previously married, thethought of her first husband will haunt him and he may treat herbadly, as though punishing her for her legitimate marriage. Islam hasno such complexes.”

“Ilived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a different age. Cairowas like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were wellmannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly. I wasdifferent too. I had my station in life, my money, all my friends were ofa certain niveau, I had my special places where I would spend theevening—the Automobile Club, the Club Muhammad Ali, the GeziraClub. What times! Every night was filled with laughter and parties anddrinking and singing. There were lots of foreigners in Cairo. Most ofthe people living downtown were foreigners, until Abd el Nasser threwthem out in 1956.”“Why did he throw them out?”“He threw the Jews out first, then the rest of the foreigners gotscared and left. By the way, what’s your opinion of Abd el Nasser?”“I was born after he died. I don’t know. Some people say he was ahero and others say he was a criminal.”“Abd el Nasser was the worst ruler in the whole history of Egypt.He ruined the country and brought us defeat and poverty. The damagehe did to the Egyptian character will take years to repair. Abd el Nassertaught the Egyptians to be cowards, opportunists, and hypocrites.”“So why do people love him?”“Who says people love him?”“Lots of people that I know love him.”“Anyone who loves Abd el Nasser is either an ignoramus or didwell out of him. The Free Officers were a bunch of kids from the dregsof society, destitutes and sons of destitutes. Nahhas Basha was a goodman and he cared about the poor. He allowed them to join the MilitaryCollege and the result was that they made the coup of 1952. They ruledEgypt and they robbed it and looted it and made millions. Of coursethey have to love Abd el Nasser; he was the boss of their gang.”

“...and that spark will flash in her eyes confirming that her mind never stops working, even in the heat of passion.”

“She had lost her compassion for people and a thick crust of indifference had formed around her feelings - that disgust that afflicts the exhausted, the frustrated, and the perverted and prevents them from sympathizing with others.”