--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I lived through beautiful times, Busayna…" description: "\"“I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png" --- # I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a… ![“I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly. I was different too. I had my station in life, my money, all my friends were of a certain niveau, I…” quote by Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png) > ““I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly. I was different too. I had my station in life, my money, all my friends were of a certain niveau, I had my special places where I would spend the evening—the Automobile Club, the Club Muhammad Ali, the Gezira Club. What times! Every night was filled with laughter and parties and drinking and singing. There were lots of foreigners in Cairo. Most of the people living downtown were foreigners, until Abd el Nasser threw them out in 1956.” “Why did he throw them out?” “He threw the Jews out first, then the rest of the foreigners got scared and left. By the way, what’s your opinion of Abd el Nasser?” “I was born after he died. I don’t know. Some people say he was a hero and others say he was a criminal.” “Abd el Nasser was the worst ruler in the whole history of Egypt. He ruined the country and brought us defeat and poverty. The damage he did to the Egyptian character will take years to repair. Abd el Nasser taught the Egyptians to be cowards, opportunists, and hypocrites.” “So why do people love him?” “Who says people love him?” “Lots of people that I know love him.” “Anyone who loves Abd el Nasser is either an ignoramus or did well out of him. The Free Officers were a bunch of kids from the dregs of society, destitutes and sons of destitutes. Nahhas Basha was a good man and he cared about the poor. He allowed them to join the Military College and the result was that they made the coup of 1952. They ruled Egypt and they robbed it and looted it and made millions. Of course they have to love Abd el Nasser; he was the boss of their gang.”” [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator reminisces about cosmopolitan Cairo before 1956, then reflects on the polarizing legacy of Abd el Nasser, illustrating how history is contested and memory selective. **In simple terms:** Remembering old Cairo and debating Nasser's legacy. Key Takeaway History is often debated. Themes history politics memory Mood nostalgic critical Type reflective analytical When to use this quote - Egyptian society - postcolonial discourse - personal narratives - political debate Key Concepts colonialism nationalism identity Questions to Reflect On - How does personal experience shape views of history? - What factors influence collective memory? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex historical forces. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cairo Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cairo-like-3333468/) [Cairo People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cairo-people-3333467/) [Egypt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egypt/) [Every night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-night/) [Foreigners Cairo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foreigners-cairo-3333465/) [Good man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-man/) [Nasser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nasser/) [Nasser Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nasser-taught-1950906/) [Nasser Threw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nasser-threw-3333466/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Well mannered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/well-mannered/) ## Related quotes > [“Nasser taught the Egyptians to be cowards, opportunists, and hypocrites.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/nasser-taught-the-egyptians-to-be-cowards-opportunists-and-hypocrites/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [If we had allowed things to drift, everything would have gone from bad to worse. Nasser would have become a kind of Moslem Mussolini,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-eden/if-we-had-allowed-things-to-drift-everything-would-have-gone-from-bad/) [Anthony Eden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-eden/) > [“Nasser found himself imagining her, without wanting to: those large green eyes, and freckles, and sweet bow lips.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaye-thornbrugh/nasser-found-himself-imagining-her-without-wanting-to-those-large/) [Kaye Thornbrugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaye-thornbrugh/) > [“Nasser's coup got rid of everything that was good in Egypt, and slowly replaced everything that was bad with something much worse.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/nasser-s-coup-got-rid-of-everything-that-was-good-in-egypt-and-slowly/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [Under Nasser, Egyptian nationalism was built on little more than pan-Arab irredentism and anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiment. Mr. Mubarak retained these powerful brainwashers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-aciman/under-nasser-egyptian-nationalism-was-built-on-little-more-than-pan/) [Andre Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-aciman/) > [Our quarrel is not with Egypt, still less with the Arab world. It is with Colonel Nasser. He has shown that he is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-eden/our-quarrel-is-not-with-egypt-still-less-with-the-arab-world-it-is/) [Anthony Eden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-eden/) > [There is now doubt in our minds that Nasser, whether he likes it or not, is now effectively in Russian hands, just as Mussolini…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-eden/there-is-now-doubt-in-our-minds-that-nasser-whether-he-likes-it-or/) [Anthony Eden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-eden/) > [“Though the timing of Dulles’s decision may have been ordained by his domestic political situation, it was a shock to his colleagues and allies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-von-tunzelmann/though-the-timing-of-dulles-s-decision-may-have-been-ordained-by-his/) [Alex von Tunzelmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-von-tunzelmann/) > [“vital historical fact: that Gamal Abdel Nasser signifies the only truly Egyptian developmental project in the country's history since the fall of the pharaonic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarek-osman/vital-historical-fact-that-gamal-abdel-nasser-signifies-the-only/) [Tarek Osman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarek-osman/) > [“after challenging France by arming and bankrolling the Algerian revolutionaries, he had the courage to send thousands of his troops to Yemen, on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarek-osman/after-challenging-france-by-arming-and-bankrolling-the-algerian/) [Tarek Osman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarek-osman/) > [“Nasser was dead. Israel’s military superiority had effectively neutralized any Syrian threat. Pan-Arabism was a thing of the past. Yet once again, Israel found…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-gordis/nasser-was-dead-israel-s-military-superiority-had-effectively/) [Daniel Gordis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-gordis/) > [“Sadat, years later, commented that Nasser did not die on 28 September 1970 but on 5 June 1967 (the day the war broke out).”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarek-osman/sadat-years-later-commented-that-nasser-did-not-die-on-28-september/) [Tarek Osman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarek-osman/) > [“She opened her sketchbook, carefully tore out several pages and handed them to Nasser--three detailed color sketches of three flowers. Leafing through the pages,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaye-thornbrugh/she-opened-her-sketchbook-carefully-tore-out-several-pages-and-handed/) [Kaye Thornbrugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaye-thornbrugh/) > [“But in 1954 the organization was banned, then almost annihilated by Nasser. He claimed they tried to assassinate him while he delivered a public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/but-in-1954-the-organization-was-banned-then-almost-annihilated-by/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Nasser found himself imagining her, without wanting to: those large green eyes, and freckles, and sweet boy lips.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaye-thornbrugh/nasser-found-himself-imagining-her-without-wanting-to-those-large-2/) [Kaye Thornbrugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaye-thornbrugh/) ## More by Alaa Al Aswany > [Illiteracy does not impede the practice of democracy, as witnessed by the success of democracy in India despite the high illiteracy rate. One doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/illiteracy-does-not-impede-the-practice-of-democracy-as-witnessed-by/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“...he was one of the great intellectuals of the 1940s who completed their higher studies in the West and returned to their country to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/he-was-one-of-the-great-intellectuals-of-the-1940s-who-completed/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“She represents the beauty of the common people in all its vulgarity and provocativeness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/she-represents-the-beauty-of-the-common-people-in-all-its-vulgarity/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [Egyptians are like camels: they can put up with beatings, humiliation and starvation for a long time but when they rebel they do so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/egyptians-are-like-camels-they-can-put-up-with-beatings-humiliation/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [If you can't find good in your own country, you won't find it anywhere else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/if-you-can-t-find-good-in-your-own-country-you-won-t-find-it-anywhere/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“If you can’t find good in your own country, you won’t find it anywhere else.” The words slipped out from Zaki Bey, but he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/if-you-can-t-find-good-in-your-own-country-you-won-t-find-it-anywhere-2/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“Sheikh Bilal had taken him aside the day before the wedding and spoken to him of marriage and his wife’s rights in the Law,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/sheikh-bilal-had-taken-him-aside-the-day-before-the-wedding-and/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“...oh that short hair, a la garcon that evokes unfamiliar, boyish kinds of sex.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/oh-that-short-hair-a-la-garcon-that-evokes-unfamiliar-boyish-kinds-of/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [I am according to my slave's expectations of me: if good, then good, and if bad, then bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/i-am-according-to-my-slave-s-expectations-of-me-if-good-then-good-and/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“He had worked out long ago that police officers evaluated a citizen on the basis of three factors—his appearance, his occupation, and the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/he-had-worked-out-long-ago-that-police-officers-evaluated-a-citizen/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“The concept of the benevolent dictator, just like the concepts of the noble thief or the honest whore, is no more than a meaningless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/the-concept-of-the-benevolent-dictator-just-like-the-concepts-of-the/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“She had lost her compassion for people and a thick crust of indifference had formed around her feelings - that disgust that afflicts the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/she-had-lost-her-compassion-for-people-and-a-thick-crust-of/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“Later he would ponder the relation between our extreme desire for something and our ability to realize it- was what we wanted inevitably brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/later-he-would-ponder-the-relation-between-our-extreme-desire-for/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“Education, medical treatment, and work are the natural rights of every citizen in the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/education-medical-treatment-and-work-are-the-natural-rights-of-every/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) > [“Oh God, how did he get to be sixty? How quickly the years had passed! His whole life had passed before he realized it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/oh-god-how-did-he-get-to-be-sixty-how-quickly-the-years-had-passed/) [Alaa Al Aswany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) [Explore all 24 Alaa Al Aswany quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-al-aswany/) ## More Egypt quotes > [ The best way to marginalize the Muslim Brotherhood \[in Egypt\] is in the ballot box, not through arrests and killing people. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-ayotte/the-best-way-to-marginalize-the-muslim-brotherhood-in-egypt-is-in-the/) [Kelly Ayotte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-ayotte/) > [Its up to any government to decide how to react to the denial of basic human rights anywhere in the world, including Egypt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohamed-elbaradei/its-up-to-any-government-to-decide-how-to-react-to-the-denial-of/) [Mohamed ElBaradei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohamed-elbaradei/) > [The most successful cultural diplomacy strategy integrates people-to-people or arts/culture/media-to-people interactions into the basic business of diplomacy. 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Carrie…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vali-nasr/a-timely-and-incisive-look-into-the-history-politics-and-future-of/) [Vali Nasr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vali-nasr/) > [“When you fear nothing, you have nothing to fear”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-f-chandler/when-you-fear-nothing-you-have-nothing-to-fear/) [S.F. Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-f-chandler/) [Browse all 679 Egypt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/egypt/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly. I was different too. I had my station in life, my money, all my friends were of a certain niveau, I had my special places where I would spend the evening—the Automobile Club, the Club Muhammad Ali, the Gezira Club. What times! Every night was filled with laughter and parties and drinking and singing. There were lots of foreigners in Cairo. Most of the people living downtown were foreigners, until Abd el Nasser threw them out in 1956.” “Why did he throw them out?” “He threw the Jews out first, then the rest of the foreigners got scared and left. By the way, what’s your opinion of Abd el Nasser?” “I was born after he died. I don’t know. Some people say he was a hero and others say he was a criminal.” “Abd el Nasser was the worst ruler in the whole history of Egypt. He ruined the country and brought us defeat and poverty. The damage he did to the Egyptian character will take years to repair. Abd el Nasser taught the Egyptians to be cowards, opportunists, and hypocrites.” “So why do people love him?” “Who says people love him?” “Lots of people that I know love him.” “Anyone who loves Abd el Nasser is either an ignoramus or did well out of him. The Free Officers were a bunch of kids from the dregs of society, destitutes and sons of destitutes. Nahhas Basha was a good man and he cared about the poor. He allowed them to join the Military College and the result was that they made the coup of 1952. They ruled Egypt and they robbed it and looted it and made millions. Of course they have to love Abd el Nasser; he was the boss of their gang.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alaa Al Aswany" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna-it-was-a-different-age-cairo/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Egypt" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-al-aswany/i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna-it-was-a-different-age-cairo/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alaa-al-aswany-24214_egypt_i-lived-through-beautiful-times-busayna_363679.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I lived through beautiful times, Busayna. 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