There had been a time when she had regarded Gamila with a touch of disdain. She had considered herself stronger than Gamila, than her aunt, than her father - and stronger than their beliefs, their rules , their traditions. She had laughed with a certain superiority when her mother had said, 'The one who knows the fundamentals does not suffer.' Yes, she had existed for a time in the shadow of this silly illusion. But in truth it was she who was silly, trivial, conceited, and despicable. She was the doormat beneath people's soles.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "There had been a time when she had regarded Gamila with a touch of disdain. She had considered herself stronger than Gamila, than her aunt, than her father - and stronger than their beliefs, their rules , their traditions. She had laughed with a certain superiority when her mother had said, 'The one who knows the fundamentals does not suffer.' Yes, she had existed for a time in the shadow of this silly illusion. But in truth it was she who was silly, trivial, conceited, and despicable. She was the doormat beneath people's soles." in the context of "https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/69294.Latifa_Al_Zayyat#:~:text=Latifa%20Al%20Zayyat%20Quotes&text=I%20want%20you%20to%20have,be%20able%20to%20crush%20you.&text=There%20had%20been%20a%20time,with%20a%20touch%20of%20disdain." to mean that wisdom is timeless.