There lie those nine or ten million native Egyptians at the bottom of the social ladder, a poor, ignorant, credulous, but withal not unkindly race, being such as sixty centuries of misgovernment and oppression by various rules, from pharaohs to pashas, have made them. It is for the civilised Englishman to extend to them the hand of fellowship and encouragement, and to raise them, morally and materially, from the abject state in which he finds them […]

In fact, the Englishman will soon find that the Egyptian, whom he wishes to mold into something really useful with the view of his becoming eventually autonomous, is merely the rawest of raw material […]

I am the Egyptian, of noble stock.

I have built glory across the two pyramids.

My grandparents created great science

My generous Nile is alive in the fertile valley

My ancestors have survived for thousands of years.

The universe could perish and they still remain

Shall I tell you about a lover that forced me to emigrate and leave my family and friends?

I have given my life as a gift to that lover. I cannot love another