Alas, nothing reveals man the way war does. Nothing so accentuates in him the beauty and ugliness, the intelligence and foolishness, the brutishness and humanity, the courage and cowardice, the enigma. – Oriana Fallaci
Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon. – Oriana Fallaci
When my father was arrested, we didn’t know where they had him. My mother found him at the house of torture. It was called Villa Triste. – Oriana Fallaci
I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born. – Oriana Fallaci
Without Khomeini, we would not be where we are. What a pity that, when pregnant with him, his mother did not choose to have an abortion. – Oriana Fallaci
Khomeini was not a puppet like Arafat or Qaddafi or the many other dictators I met in the Islamic world. He was a sort of Pope, a sort of king – a real leader. – Oriana Fallaci
When you have been born in a war like me, living in a war as a child, when you have been in wars as a war correspondent all your life – trust me! You develop a form of fatalism; you are always ready to die. – Oriana Fallaci
The more democratic and open a society is, the more it’s exposed to terrorism. The more a country is free, not governed by a police regime, the more it risks hijackings or massacres like the ones that took place for many years in Italy and Germany and other parts of Europe. – Oriana Fallaci
Have you ever thought that war is a madhouse and that everyone in the war is a patient? – Oriana Fallaci
Why do the people humiliate themselves by voting? I didn’t vote because I have dignity. If I had closed my nose and voted for one of them, I would spit on my own face. – Oriana Fallaci
Is it right to shoot the poor prostitute or a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, or a man who loves another man? – Oriana Fallaci
I have reached the conclusion that those who have physical courage also have moral courage. Physical courage is a great test. – Oriana Fallaci
Laura Bush has the face of my mother when my mother was young. The face, the body, the voice. The first time I saw on TV Laura Bush, I got frozen because it was as if my mother was not dead. ‘Oh, Mama,’ I said, ‘Mama.’ – Oriana Fallaci
The larger truth, the universal truth that you can give in a novel, is far greater than what you can give through journalism. – Oriana Fallaci
I didn’t want to kill a man. I’m not capable of killing a man. I wanted to kill a tyrant. – Oriana Fallaci
We must take positions. Our weakness in the West is born of the fact of so-called ‘objectivity.’ Objectivity does not exist – it cannot exist!… The word is a hypocrisy which is sustained by the lie that the truth stays in the middle. No, sir: Sometimes truth stays on one side only. – Oriana Fallaci
I’ve always disliked kamikazes, that is, people who commit suicide in order to kill others. Starting with the Japanese ones from World War II. I never considered them Pietro Miccas who torch the powder and go up with the citadel in order to block the arrival of the enemy troops at Torino. I never considered them soldiers. – Oriana Fallaci
The increased presence of Muslims in Italy and in Europe is directly proportional to our loss of freedom. – Oriana Fallaci
What are the symbols of American strength, wealth, power and modernity? Certainly not jazz and rock and roll, not chewing-gum or hamburgers, Broadway or Hollywood. It’s their skyscrapers. Their Pentagon. Their science. Their technology. – Oriana Fallaci
The moment you give up your principles, and your values, you are dead, your culture is dead, your civilization is dead. Period. – Oriana Fallaci
War is something Arafat sends others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who believe in him. This pompous incompetent caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton’s mediation. – Oriana Fallaci
I am known for a life spent in the struggle for freedom, and freedom includes the freedom of religion. – Oriana Fallaci