Taslima Nasrin Quotes

Let humanity be the other name for religion.

It is said that peace is the basic tenet of all religion. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much disturbance, bloodshed and persecution. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we've had to witness such atrocities because of religion. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings as well as the spirit of humanity.

Jonathan Swift: ‘We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

Even today, the politics of religion does not allow the subcontinent to become civilized and its people to become truly educated.

There are some people who are untranslatable.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

It's foolish to confront a weapon with bare hands.

হিসেব কতটুকু ভালবাসা দিলে, ক' তোড়া গোলাপ দিলে, কতটুকু সময়,কতটা সমুদ্র দিলে, কটি নির্ঘুম রাত দিলে,ক ফোঁটা জল দিলে চোখের— সব যেদিন ভীষন আবেগে শোনাচ্ছিলে আমাকে, বোঝাতে চাইছিলে আমাকে খুব ভালোবাসো! আমি বুঝে নিলাম— তুমি আমাকে এখন আর 'একটু ও ভালোবাসো না। ভালোবাসা ফুরোলেই মানুষ হিসেব কষতে বসে, তুমিও বসেছো। ভালোবাসা ততদিনই ভালোবাসা যতদিন এটি অন্ধ থাকে,বধির থাকে, যতদিন এটি বেহিসেবি থাকে...

According to Abdul Kalam Azad, ‘It is one of the greatest frauds on the people to suggest that religious affinity can unite areas which are geographically, economically, linguistically and culturally different.

peace is the ultimate goal of all religions but even at the end of this century we continue to see how religion is the cause of much strife, bloodshed and disgrace among human beings. Nothing but the flag of religion can crush human beings and humane emotions so completely.

People don’t leave their homeland simply because governments stage events. One’s native land is not like the soil we put in flowerpots, where we pour water and fertilizer and then change the soil after an interval.

The Bengalis saw endless bloodshed and trouble from 1947 to 1971 and this culminated in the Liberation War of 1971. The blood of 3 million Bengalis helped earn this freedom and also proved that religion could never be the foundation of a national identity. Language, culture and history provide the foundations for a national identity.

Riots mean fights—a conflict between one community and another is called a riot. But we cannot call these riots—these were attacks by one community on another. Torture. Persecution

Aggressive, crazed Hindus had broken the Babri Masjid and the Hindus of Bangladesh were expected to atone for the wrongs done by those people.

Sudhamoy consoled himself with the thought that it was not about Hindus and Muslims but about the strong torturing the weak whenever possible. Women are weak and so strong men torment them.

If you are rich, it doesn’t matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim, that is how a capitalist society works. Take a look, poverty-stricken Muslims are in a similar situation. The rich, be they Hindu or Muslim, are subjugating the poor.

If I say that I’m educated and was jobless in Dhaka, that I want to work here, build myself a healthy, beautiful life, the kind of life that everyone dreams of, they’d just throw me out of the country. Political asylum they may just allow, but economical asylum - never!

Those who are creating the riots are not in tune with their religion. They want to plunder and destroy. Don’t you know why the sweet shops get ravaged? People hanker after sweets. And gold shops too, because of greed for gold. It’s the criminals and hoodlums who are on this spree of loot and plunder. There’s really no conflict between the communities.

Did the protectors of Hindu interests know that there were between 20 and 25 million Hindus in Bangladesh? Also, there were Hindus living in almost every country in West Asia. Had the Hindu fundamentalists bothered to think about the awful consequences for these people? As a political party, the BJP ought to be aware that India is not an isolated, prehistoric island. A poisonous boil generated in India will torment not only that country but spread agony all over the world—and most certainly to its neighbours.

I felt so inadequate as Haroon fell over me, hungry as a tiger mauling a doe, delving deep into my body.

[L]et the edifices of religions crumble, let a blind fire consume all the bricks in temples, mosques, and gurudwaras and churches, and on those ruins let us grow enchanting gardens of sweet-smelling flowers and build schools and libraries. Let places of worship be used for the good of people and be turned into hospitals, orphanages, schools and universities. Our new places of worship should be academies of art and cultures, centres of creativity and institutes of scientific research. Let the rice fields with golden grain bathed by the early rays of the sun, the open fields and rivers, and the deep sea be our new places of prayer. Let humanity be the other name for religion.

He no longer believed in ideals and stuff. He wished that he could kick out the beliefs he had held so dear all his life. Why should he bear the burden of these principles when all most people do is only touch their lips to the cup of wisdom but not take it into their hearts and minds? Why should he bother with being the only believer?

Suronjon understood that this person who had built a world within herself, who had long stopped venturing outside her household, she who did not differentiate between Parveen and Archana, had suddenly been rattled. She too had begun to ask whether only Muslims felt fury, anger and pride.

According to Abdul Kalam Azad, ‘It is one of the greatest frauds on the people to suggest that religious affinity can unite areas which are geographically, economically, linguistically and culturally different. It is true that Islam sought to establish a society which transcends racial, linguistic, economic and political frontiers. History has however proved that after the first few decades or at most after the first century, Islam was not able to unite all the Muslim countries on the basis of religion alone.

যে নারী ঝনঝনাইয়া কয়রে কথা, ধপধপাইয়া হাঁটে সেই নারীর খসমের জাতি মরে হাটে ঘাটে।