--- title: "4 Imperialism Quotes By Edward W. Said" description: "4 Imperialism quotes by Edward W. Said. Plus more from Edward W. Said and more Imperialism sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af5/edward-w-said-17556_cybersecurity_out-of-this-unstable-mix-of-technocracy_527786.jpg" --- > [“Out of this unstable mix of technocracy and national security you have a nostalgia developing for colonialism or religion—atavistic in my opinion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/out-of-this-unstable-mix-of-technocracy-and-national-security-you/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af5/edward-w-said-17556_cybersecurity_out-of-this-unstable-mix-of-technocracy_527786.jpg) > [“No one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are not more than starting-points, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/no-one-today-is-purely-one-thing-labels-like-indian-or-woman-or/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be1/edward-w-said-17556_connections_no-one-today-is-purely-one-thing-labels_766858.jpg) > [“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/every-empire-however-tells-itself-and-the-world-that-it-is-unlike-all/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/edward-w-said-17556_goals_every-empire-however-tells-itself-and-th_1266773.jpg) > [“Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/every-single-empire-in-its-official-discourse-has-said-that-it-is-not-2/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5e/edward-w-said-17556_civilization_every-single-empire-in-its-official-disc_1832274.jpg) ## Other authors on Imperialism - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-mao-zedong-63096.jpg) Mao Zedong 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/mao-zedong/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-hannah-arendt-40230.jpg) Hannah Arendt 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/hannah-arendt/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-noam-chomsky-71799.jpg) Noam Chomsky 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/noam-chomsky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/abhijit-naskar/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-christopher-hitchens-23938.jpg) Christopher Hitchens 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/christopher-hitchens/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-hugo-chavez-42644.jpg) Hugo Chavez 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/hugo-chavez/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-orwell-37887.jpg) George Orwell 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/george-orwell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-che-guevara-22905.jpg) Che Guevara 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/che-guevara/) - [Andre Vltchek 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/andre-vltchek/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-vladimir-lenin-94029.jpg) Vladimir Lenin 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/vladimir-lenin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-fidel-castro-35012.jpg) Fidel Castro 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/fidel-castro/) ## More by Edward W. Said > [“Modern Orientalism embodies a systematic discipline of accumulation. Far from this being exclusively an intellectual or theoretical feature, it made Orientalism tend fatally towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/modern-orientalism-embodies-a-systematic-discipline-of-accumulation/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Not one of our political spokespeople—the same is true of the Arabs since Abdel Nasser’s time—ever speaks with self-respect and dignity of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/not-one-of-our-political-spokespeople-the-same-is-true-of-the-arabs/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“It remains the professional Orientalist's job to piece together a portrait, a restored picture as it were, of the Orient or the Oriental; fragments,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/it-remains-the-professional-orientalist-s-job-to-piece-together-a/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Intellectual representations are the activity itself, dependent on a kind of consciousness that is skeptical, engaged, unremittingly devote to rational investigation and moral judgement;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/intellectual-representations-are-the-activity-itself-dependent-on-a/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Out of this unstable mix of technocracy and national security you have a nostalgia developing for colonialism or religion—atavistic in my opinion, but some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/out-of-this-unstable-mix-of-technocracy-and-national-security-you/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Every writer on the Orient (and this is true even of Homer) assumes some Oriental precedent, some previous knowledge of the Orient, to which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/every-writer-on-the-orient-and-this-is-true-even-of-homer-assumes/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Music requires a particular type of education which is simply not given to most people. And, as a result, it’s set further apart. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/music-requires-a-particular-type-of-education-which-is-simply-not/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“No one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are not more than starting-points, which if followed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/no-one-today-is-purely-one-thing-labels-like-indian-or-woman-or/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“They weren't like us and for that reason deserved to be ruled.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/they-weren-t-like-us-and-for-that-reason-deserved-to-be-ruled/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Liberation as an intellectual mission, born in the resistance and opposition to the confinements and ravages of imperialism, has now shifted from the settled,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/liberation-as-an-intellectual-mission-born-in-the-resistance-and/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Criticism must think of itself as life-enhancing and constitutively opposed to every form of tyranny, domination, and abuse; its social goals are non-coercive knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/criticism-must-think-of-itself-as-life-enhancing-and-constitutively/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“The Orient is watched, since its almost (but never quite) offensive behavior issues out of a reservoir of infinite peculiarity; the European, whose sensibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/the-orient-is-watched-since-its-almost-but-never-quite-offensive/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“There has been no major revolution in modern history without intellectuals; conversely there has been no major counterrevolutionary movement without intellectuals. Intellectuals have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/there-has-been-no-major-revolution-in-modern-history-without/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Texts are not finished objects.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/texts-are-not-finished-objects/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) > [“Orientalism is after all a system for citing works and authors . \_\_ Orientalism”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-said/orientalism-is-after-all-a-system-for-citing-works-and-authors/) [Edward W. Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-said/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/edward-w-said/#itemlist", "name": "4 Imperialism Quotes By Edward W. Said", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Out of this unstable mix of technocracy and national security you have a nostalgia developing for colonialism or religion—atavistic in my opinion, but some people want them back. Sadat is the great example of that: he threw out the Russians, as well as everything else that represented Abdel Nasser, ascendant nationalism, and so forth—and said, “Let the Americans come.” Then you have a new period of what in Arabic is called an infitah—in other words, an opening of the country to a new imperialism: technocratic management, not production but services—tourism, hotels, banking, etc. That’s where we are right now.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward W. 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Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are not more than starting-points, which if followed into actual experience for only a moment are quickly left behind. Imperialism consolidated the mixture of cultures and identities on a global scale. But its worst and most paradoxical gift was to allow people to believe that they were only, mainly, exclusively, white, or Black, or Western, or Oriental. Yet just as human beings make their own history, they also make their cultures and ethnic identities. No one can deny the persisting continuities of long traditions, sustained habitations, national languages, and cultural geographies, but there seems no reason except fear and prejudice to keep insisting on their separation and distinctiveness, as if that was all human life was about. Survival in fact is about the connections between things; in Eliot’s phrase, reality cannot be deprived of the “other echoes [that] inhabit the garden.” It is more rewarding - and more difficult - to think concretely and sympathetically, contrapuntally, about others than only about “us.” But this also means not trying to rule others, not trying to classify them or put them in hierarchies, above all, not constantly reiterating how “our” culture or country is number one (or not number one, for that matter).”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward W. 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