--- title: "4 Metaphysical Quotes By Edward Said" description: "4 Metaphysical quotes by Edward Said. Plus more from Edward Said and more Metaphysical sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a3/edward-said-6412_bloody_it-9-11-transcended-the-political-and-mo_861231.jpg" --- > [ It \[9/11\] transcended the political and moved into the metaphysical. There was a kind of cosmic, demonic quality of mind at work… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-9-11-transcended-the-political-and-moved-into-the-metaphysical/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a3/edward-said-6412_bloody_it-9-11-transcended-the-political-and-mo_861231.jpg) > [ This \[terrorists attacks on 9/11\] was part of nothing. It was a leap into another realm - the realm of crazy abstractions… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/this-terrorists-attacks-on-9-11-was-part-of-nothing-it-was-a-leap/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/595/edward-said-6412_abstraction_this-terrorists-attacks-on-9-11-was-part_2025625.jpg) > [ It \[9/11 event\] transcended the political and moved into the metaphysical. There was a kind of cosmic, demonic quality of mind at… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-9-11-event-transcended-the-political-and-moved-into-the/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd6/edward-said-6412_cosmic_it-9-11-event-transcended-the-political_2078623.jpg) > [ It \[destroying Twin Towers\] was a leap into another realm - the realm of crazy abstractions and mythological generalities, involving people who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-destroying-twin-towers-was-a-leap-into-another-realm-the-realm-of/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97a/edward-said-6412_abstraction_it-destroying-twin-towers-was-a-leap-int_2557951.jpg) ## Other authors on Metaphysical - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-stephen-richards-446.jpg) Stephen Richards 31 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/stephen-richards/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-ross-caligiuri-31263.jpg) Ross Caligiuri 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ross-caligiuri/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-r-buckminster-fuller-76573.jpg) R. Buckminster Fuller 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/r-buckminster-fuller/) - [Mina Faraway 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/mina-faraway/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-karl-popper-55250.jpg) Karl Popper 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/karl-popper/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-haruki-murakami-40784.jpg) Haruki Murakami 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/haruki-murakami/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-friedrich-nietzsche-36363.jpg) Friedrich Nietzsche 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/friedrich-nietzsche/) - [Doug Dillon 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/doug-dillon/) - [Thomas Vazhakunnathu 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/thomas-vazhakunnathu/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-ludwig-wittgenstein-61873.jpg) Ludwig Wittgenstein 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ludwig-wittgenstein/) - [Elliott Sober 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/elliott-sober/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-ayn-rand-15943.jpg) Ayn Rand 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/ayn-rand/) ## More by Edward Said > [Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/beginning-is-not-only-a-kind-of-action-it-is-also-a-frame-of-mind-a/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-s-very-hard-for-example-to-justify-the-thirty-four-year-occupation/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[9/11\] was bloody-minded destruction for no other reason than to do it. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/9-11-was-bloody-minded-destruction-for-no-other-reason-than-to-do-it/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/look-at-situations-as-contingent-not-as-inevitable-look-at-them-as/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I was one of the first people in the Palestinian world, in the late 1970s, to say that there is no military option, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-was-one-of-the-first-people-in-the-palestinian-world-in-the-late/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Take a young man from Gaza living in the most horrendous conditions - most of it imposed by Israel - who straps dynamite around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/take-a-young-man-from-gaza-living-in-the-most-horrendous-conditions/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[One task of intellectuals is\] to break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are . . . limiting to human thought and communication. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/one-task-of-intellectuals-is-to-break-down-the-stereotypes-and/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I have never known what is Arabic or English, or which one was really mine beyond any doubt. What I do know, however, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-have-never-known-what-is-arabic-or-english-or-which-one-was-really/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/every-single-empire-in-its-official-discourse-has-said-that-it-is-not/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ The just response to this terrible event \[9/11\] should be to go immediately to the world community, the United Nations. The rule of international… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/the-just-response-to-this-terrible-event-9-11-should-be-to-go/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/since-when-does-a-militarily-occupied-people-have-the-responsibility/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/refuse-to-allow-yourself-to-become-a-vegetable-that-simply-absorbs/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/no-cause-no-god-no-abstract-idea-can-justify-the-mass-slaughter-of/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/what-we-must-eliminate-are-systems-of-representation-that-carry-with/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Part of the main plan of imperialism... is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/part-of-the-main-plan-of-imperialism-is-that-we-will-give-you-your/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/edward-said/#itemlist", "name": "4 Metaphysical Quotes By Edward Said", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It [9/11] transcended the political and moved into the metaphysical. 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