Just like in medicine, when the normal medicine no longer works, one resorts to surgery. And the revolutions is like the surgery: Its painful, and its the last resort for nations.

I dream of a free, democratic, peaceful Tunisia, a country that can protect its developing identity.

We in Tunisia have no problem with respecting other peoples religion, and we have a long tradition of that.

What Tunisia urgently needs, is freedom and the building of a real democracy.

I believe that women should have equal rights to education, to work and to civic and political engagement.

French laicite is probably aggressive and antagonistic to the religion, but there are other models of secularism in the world where there could be reconciliation between religion and secularism.

Under Tunisian law, a woman can divorce her husband. Total equality.

I believe democracy will succeed in Tunisia, but I also believe that it will succeed in the other Arab Spring countries.

The dictatorship needs to be entirely dismantled. All the rest of the old guard must go.

There is no one in al-Nahda that is violence is a means of change or to keep power. Everyone in al-Nahda believes that democracy is the only way to reach power and to stay in power.

I hope that with the success of the transition to democracy in Tunisia that we will export to Egypt a working democratic model.

and fear was the strongest force on earth.

The feelings of politicians are rarely transparent.

As one man said, "I got a pretty good education. It took me years to get over it." That's what spirituality is all about, you know: unlearning. Unlearning all the rubbish they taught you.

True greatness consists in being great in little things.

Mischief and malice grow on the same branch of the tree of evil.

I love the excesses of beauty, there is never enough sunlight in the world I will live in, never enough room for love.

There are about 30 words around you all the time, like 'thread' or 'exit.'

When does loyalty become martyrdom?

It's not so simple to just stay in the moment and trust your game and your strength that you can turn it around.

The problem with the way we discuss gender is that it tends to be "Let's sympathize with women" or "Let's sympathize with men."