Maaza Mengiste Interview (2019)

I've always been curious about why he left Ethiopia in the middle of the war, or what was called the end by Italy. Ethiopia had not officially surrendered. There is one side that says, "Well, he left because this war had to be fought on a diplomatic level, as opposed to a purely military one." Then there's another side that says, "Ethiopia has never fought without their leader, and this emperor fled. He ran away." I wondered about what he might feel, understanding that those were the two sides...I've wondered what he felt like, looking at all these fighters who fought when he didn't, and what he might have thought when he saw the women who were also a part of that. I am pretty sure there were women that greeted him also, female fighters.

— Maaza Mengiste

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I've always been curious about why he left Ethiopia in the middle of the war, or what was called the end by Italy. Ethiopia had not officially surrendered. There is one side that says, "Well, he left because this war had to be fought on a diplomatic level, as opposed to a purely military one." Then there's another side that says, "Ethiopia has never fought without their leader, and this emperor fled. He ran away." I wondered about what he might feel, understanding that those were the two sides...I've wondered what he felt like, looking at all these fighters who fought when he didn't, and what he might have thought when he saw the women who were also a part of that. I am pretty sure there were women that greeted him also, female fighters." in the context of "Maaza Mengiste Interview (2019)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Haile Selassie" (Quotes about Haile Selassie I: Alphabetized by author ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Haile Selassie

About Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ, romanized: qädamawi haylä səllasé (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was regent of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, including 5 years of exile from 1936 to 1941 in the period of Italian occupation. Though himself a life-long Christian, and a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, an Oriental Orthodox Church, he became revered as God incarnate by followers of the Rastafari movement founded in Jamaica in the early 1930s. He was overthrown by a Communist coup d'état in 1974.