Leila Slimani quotes

Leila Slimani is a French-Moroccan writer and journalist, acclaimed for her exploration of contemporary social issues. Her novels, such as "Lullaby" ("Chanson douce"), have won major literary awards and stirred public debate. She is recognized as one of the most influential voices in modern French literature. Here are 38 of her quotes:

I grew up in Morocco. I was born a Muslim, and, every year, I celebrated Christmas in a big white house in the country, halfway between Meknes and Fez.

Leila Slimani

I am not patriotic or nationalistic, but the French language is like a country where I take refuge when I have nowhere else to go. It consoles me for everything. For me, the language no longer belongs to the colonialists.

Leila Slimani

As a mother, you're only allowed to talk about the 'good' moments - not the ones when you've had enough and want to be on your own. Or just want to be a woman, not a mother.

Leila Slimani

A mother should never be blamed for working.

Leila Slimani

'Lullaby' is about boundaries.

Leila Slimani

A nanny is a woman who lives in an apartment, but the apartment is not her own. She raises children, teaches them how to walk, how to speak; she gives them food - but these children are not her children. So she is in a very ambiguous place.

Leila Slimani

My parents were lovers of books, and they raised us in a manner that viewed freedom and subversion as indispensable.

Leila Slimani

When you become a 'public person,' I find it very difficult to keep following social media. It is too harsh, too violent. I only read newspapers online.

Leila Slimani

I think maternal instinct is a male construct that has been used for centuries to keep women in their place, at home.

Leila Slimani

Motherhood is not only something very pure and very full of love, it can be full of dark things, too.

Leila Slimani

One of the big mistakes of the Moroccan elite and the elite in the Muslim world was to be afraid of the conservatives. They are fighting for their ideas. Why shouldn't we fight for our ideas?

Leila Slimani

For me, it is freedom, freedom from everything: when I write, I'm not a woman. I'm not a Muslim. I'm not a Moroccan. I can reinvent myself, and I can reinvent the world.

Leila Slimani

When you live closely with people, you don't see who they really are. In particular, with nannies, they only exist in your home, and when they leave, they don't really exist anymore for you.

Leila Slimani

I remember that the first time I looked at my son, of course I felt love. But I think the first feeling was not love: it was fear. Someone is needing me. If something happens to him, what am I going to do? Maybe I won't survive if something happens to him? The fear was as big as the love.

Leila Slimani

I like to describe my characters as though they were all trapped in a glass box.

Leila Slimani

The only way you can know someone is through their actions - you can never know what's going on inside them.

Leila Slimani

I had a nanny growing up in Morocco, and my parents encouraged me to put myself in her shoes sometimes.

Leila Slimani

Authors have a nationality; books do not.

Leila Slimani

Human darkness fascinates me; I find it intriguing. And there are few female characters who are explored in this light.

Leila Slimani

Authorities in Rabat believe that if we create a Moroccan character, even in a work of fiction, we are responsible for the image of Moroccan women.

Leila Slimani

You have to fight against all the things that will keep you out of writing, because life doesn't go with writing. You will always have something more important to do: you will have to take your children to school, you will have to cook something, you have to meet friends. But you have to fight if you want to write.

Leila Slimani

I don't really consider myself an immigrant, because I was born French; I have always spoken the language. I never had the feeling of being a foreigner. I was very lucky: I came to France, and I had enough money to study and to rent a studio. So, for me, it was not difficult.

Leila Slimani