--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There was a time when you were not a…" description: "\"There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recol..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/monique-wittig-21336_doe_there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-sla_3214573.jpg" --- # There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that… ![“There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recollection of it, remember . . . You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to…” quote by Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/monique-wittig-21336_doe_there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-sla_3214573.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/monique-wittig-21336_doe_there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-sla_3214573.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7de/monique-wittig-21336_doe_there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-sla_3214573.jpg) > “There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recollection of it, remember . . . You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent.” [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Remembering freedom from oppression restores agency; if forgotten, recreate it through imagination. **In simple terms:** Recall past freedom, or imagine it anew. Key Takeaway Recall or invent personal liberation. Themes freedom memory identity resistance Mood defiant hopeful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - activism - therapy - artistic creation - personal growth Key Concepts Feminist theory post‑structuralism creative imagination Questions to Reflect On - How do you reclaim lost agency? - What role does imagination play in resistance? A Different Perspective Invented memories may lack grounding in reality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Effort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effort/) [Laughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laughter/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Recollection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recollection/) [Slave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-slave-remember-that-you-walked/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [“They say that the mind cannot remember pain; I say it barely matters, for even if the physical sensation is lost, our recollection of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-north/they-say-that-the-mind-cannot-remember-pain-i-say-it-barely-matters/) [Claire North](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-north/) > [“I know I have the capacity within me to be all of that again, to feel all of that again, and know that, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-north/i-know-i-have-the-capacity-within-me-to-be-all-of-that-again-to-feel/) [Claire North](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-north/) > [Remember. Or, failing that, invent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/remember-or-failing-that-invent/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [“Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chetan-bhagat/disappointment-will-come-when-your-effort-does-not-give-you-the-2/) [Chetan Bhagat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chetan-bhagat/) > [I remember failing reading in school at a young age, and you just kinda get left behind and I felt helpless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-leary/i-remember-failing-reading-in-school-at-a-young-age-and-you-just/) [Kevin O'Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-o-leary/) > [Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things dont go as planned or if you face failure.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ash-sweeney/disappointment-will-come-when-your-effort-does-not-give-you-the/) [Ash Sweeney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ash-sweeney/) > [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [At length weariness succeeds to labor, and the mind lies at ease in the contemplation of her own attainments without any desire of new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/at-length-weariness-succeeds-to-labor-and-the-mind-lies-at-ease-in/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. 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Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-j-watson/) > [Old age likes to dwell in the recollections of the past, and, mistaking, the speedy march of years, often is inclined to take the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lajos-kossuth/old-age-likes-to-dwell-in-the-recollections-of-the-past-and-mistaking/) [Lajos Kossuth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lajos-kossuth/) > [To have given pleasure to one human being is a recollection that sweetens life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-repplier/to-have-given-pleasure-to-one-human-being-is-a-recollection-that/) [Agnes Repplier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-repplier/) > [The tortures of present death disturb him not, but the recollection of his fall, fills him with a holy sorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-strachan/the-tortures-of-present-death-disturb-him-not-but-the-recollection-of/) [John Strachan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-strachan/) > [Above Coblentz almost every mountain has a ruin and a legend. One feels everywhere the spirit of the past, and its stirring recollections come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-taylor/above-coblentz-almost-every-mountain-has-a-ruin-and-a-legend-one/) [Bayard Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-taylor/) ## More by Monique Wittig > [Remember. Or, failing that, invent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/remember-or-failing-that-invent/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [It is quite possible for a work of literature to operate as a war machine upon its epoch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/it-is-quite-possible-for-a-work-of-literature-to-operate-as-a-war/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [“The women say that they could not eat hare veal or fowl, they say that they could not eat animals, but man, yes, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/the-women-say-that-they-could-not-eat-hare-veal-or-fowl-they-say-that/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [The basic agreement between human beings, indeed what makes them human and makes them social, is language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/the-basic-agreement-between-human-beings-indeed-what-makes-them-human/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [... 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You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/there-was-a-time-when-you-were-not-a-slave-remember-that-you-walked/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [For there is no sex. There is but sex that is oppressed and sex that oppresses. It is oppression that creates sex and not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/for-there-is-no-sex-there-is-but-sex-that-is-oppressed-and-sex-that/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [I feel a near passion for intelligence at grips with itself and not letting go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-wittig/i-feel-a-near-passion-for-intelligence-at-grips-with-itself-and-not/) [Monique Wittig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-wittig/) > [It is oppression that creates sex and not the contrary. 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