1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser Quotes

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt, serving from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.

Nasser's popularity in Egypt and the Arab world skyrocketed after his nationalization of the Suez Canal and his political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis. Calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria from 1958 to 1961. In 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nasser's supporters gained power in several Arab countries, but he became embroiled in the North Yemen Civil War and eventually the much larger Arab Cold War. He began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were banned from running. Following Egypt's defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser resigned, but he returned to office after popular demonstrations called for his reinstatement. By 1968, Nasser had appointed himself Prime Minister, launched the War of Attrition to regain lost territory, began a process of depoliticizing the military and issued a set of political liberalization reforms. After the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five million mourners and an outpouring of grief across the Arab world.

Nasser remains an iconic figure in the Arab world, particularly for his strides towards social justice and Arab unity, modernization policies and anti-imperialist efforts. His presidency also encouraged and coincided with an Egyptian cultural boom and launched large industrial projects, including the Aswan Dam and Helwan city. Nasser's detractors criticize his authoritarianism, his human rights violations and his dominance of military over civil institutions, establishing a pattern of military and dictatorial rule in Egypt. Wikipedia  

✵ 15. January 1918 – 28. September 1970
Gamal Abdel Nasser photo
Gamal Abdel Nasser: 15 quotes3 likes

Famous Gamal Abdel Nasser Quotes

“No person, not even the most simple one, takes seriously the lie of the six million Jews that were murdered”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

in the Holocaust
Source: [Satloff, Robert, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach Into Arab lands, PublicAffairs, 2007, 163, 9781586485108]
Source: [Laqueur, Walter, The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, 2006, 141, 9780195304299]

“If the Jews win this battle, then the Arabs had better go bury their faces in the mud!”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

[Middle East: What to Do About Germany, TIME, Friday, Mar. 19, 1965, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833554,00.html, September 6, 2011]

“Our path to Palestine will not be covered with a red carpet or with yellow sand. Our path to Palestine will be covered with blood… In order that we may liberate Palestine, the Arab nation must unite, the Arab armies must unite, and a unified plan of action must be established”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

In a re-election speech (1965), as quoted in Islamic Imperialism : A History (2007) by Efraim Karsh, p. 162

“I believe that we now have a duty to remove the aggressor from our land and to regain the Arab territory occupied by the Israelis. We can then engage in a clandestine struggle to liberate the land of Palestine, to liberate Haifa and Jaffa.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

In a meeting with King Hussein, as quoted in the in Efraim Karsh, Islamic Imperialism: A History (2007), p. 172

“We knew that by closing the Gulf of Aqaba it might mean war with Israel. [If war comes] it will be total and the objective will be to destroy Israel.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

As quoted in the Washington Post (27 May 1967)

“You are from Britain. Would you accept to give Manchester to some other people? And if you are American, I ask the same way, do you accept to give California to some other people? Or would you accept the 'status quo' of occupying Manchester by some other people, by the Chinese for instance? And then reach agreement after expelling the people of Manchester from their homes, depriving them of their property, of everything? This is the question of Palestine.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/plohistoryofrevolution/2009/07/200971285221482182.html 12:40 on

Gamal Abdel Nasser Quotes

“I am alive, and even if I die, all of you are Gamal Abdul Nasser!”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

To his followers during the assassination attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood, as quoted in The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
Context: Let them kill Nasser! What is Nasser but one among many? I am alive, and even if I die, all of you are Gamal Abdul Nasser!

“We have to go along a road covered with blood. We have no other alternative. For us it is a matter of life or death, a matter of living or existing. We have to be ready to face the challenges that await us.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser, speech to Egypt's National Assembly, Cairo (November 6, 1969), as reported by The Washington Post (November 7, 1969), p. 1.

“The holy march on which the Arab nation insists, will carry us forward from one victory to another … the flag of freedom which flies over Baghdad today will fly over Amman and Riyadh. Yes, the flag of freedom which flies over Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad today will fly over the rest of the Middle East”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Aburish, Said K. (2004), Nasser, the Last Arab, New York City

“The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make us wonder at the possibility that there may be something to them we are missing.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

As quoted in [The Game of Nations, The Amorality of Power Politics, Copeland, Miles, 216, 1970, 4, Simon and Schuster]

“We must fight our way to victory on a sea of blood and a horizon of fire.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

As quoted in the Wall Street Journal (14 November 1969)

“We are awaiting aggression by Israel and any supporters of Israel. We will make it a decisive battle and get rid of Israel once and for all… This is the dream of every Arab.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

As quoted in the Washington Post (27 July 1959)

“If the refugees return to Israel – Israel will cease to exist.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

As quoted in A Mandate for Terror : The United Nations and the PLO (1989), by Harris O. Schoenberg, p. 239

“My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honor. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honor, and freedom in you. If Gamal Abdel Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel Nasser … Gamal Abdel Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Stephens, Robert Henry (1972), Nasser: A Political Biography, New York

“If anyone thinks we have become tired, let me say that we are a struggling nation, a fighting nation, a patient nation.”

Gamal Abdel Nasser

[Egypt: Back to the Balcony, TIME, 4 March 1966, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835211,00.html, September 6, 2011]

Similar authors

Václav Klaus photo
Václav Klaus3
2nd President of the Czech Republic None
Dilma Rousseff photo
Dilma Rousseff13
36th President of Brazil None
Jair Bolsonaro photo
Jair Bolsonaro118
Brazilian president elect None
Vladimir Putin photo
Vladimir Putin110
President of Russia, former Prime Minister None
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk photo
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk9
First Czechoslovak president None
John F. Kennedy photo
John F. Kennedy469
35th president of the United States of America None
Nelson Mandela photo
Nelson Mandela143
President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist None
Franklin D. Roosevelt photo
Franklin D. Roosevelt190
32nd President of the United States None
Ronald Reagan photo
Ronald Reagan264
American politician, 40th president of the United States (i… None
Charles de Gaulle photo
Charles de Gaulle46
eighteenth President of the French Republic None