Top 12 Quotes & Sayings by Maria Teresa Horta

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Portuguese poet Maria Teresa Horta.
Last updated on November 23, 2024.
Maria Teresa Horta

Maria Teresa de Mascarenhas Horta Barros is a Portuguese feminist poet, journalist and activist. She is one of the authors of the book Novas Cartas Portugesas, together with Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa. The authors, known as the "Three Marias," were arrested, jailed and prosecuted under Portuguese censorship laws in 1972, during the last years of the Estado Novo dictatorship. The book and their trial inspired protests in Portugal and attracted international attention from European and American women's liberation groups in the years leading up to the Carnation Revolution.

I think that one of the tasks of feminist women - mainly women of culture - in our time is to seek out those women who were only forgotten because they were women.
People ask me almost every day, "Why? You are successful, you have kids, you have grandchildren, so why?" Feminist women are seen as unsatisfied. But all women in the world, if they are well aware of inequality, are unsatisfied women. They don't have the same rights as men, and there is no freedom until there is equality between men and women.
I don't offend anyone, I don't use anyone, I don't exploit anyone. — © Maria Teresa Horta
I don't offend anyone, I don't use anyone, I don't exploit anyone.
People ask me why I am a feminist. Because I am a woman of freedom and equality and it is not possible to have freedom in the world when half of humanity has no rights. Because we are more than half of humanity. There are more women than men. This is not a fight of so-called "minorities."
As a journalist, I never isolated myself. I was a journalist at a daily newspaper and every day I went out on the street. Every day I had contact with people. I interviewed the most important writers of the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first century, from Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras, and Marguerite Yourcenar to Christa Wolf.
I think that all my books are political, I think that I have a political body of work. I am essentially a political woman, but above all I am a poet. I am a poetess.
I think the obligation of a poet is not to be in an ivory tower; it is not to be isolated but to be among people.
I think that if poetry is not a personal act, it's a pamphlet.
Prizes aren't essential. What is essential is poetry itself, it's what is said, it is clarity, it's loyalty, those are the essential values, the literary values.
Men use women sexually. They use them, mistreat them, even from the point of view of vocabulary, the use of words. It baffles me.
My erotic poetry is not poetry that uses vernacular words. It is a very erotic poetry, but I never use anything, for example, that is not in the dictionary. I don't like to be ugly, I seek out what is beautiful, and if my great search is for freedom and beauty, I can't be vulgar, ordinary.
What do I think of Pussy Riot actions? The act can be extremely positive if it is an act to call attention to the fact that things in their country are really bad for women, otherwise it is purely a media event that only obfuscates women's struggle.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!