Naguib Mahfouz

“הוא לא היה מסוגל להעלות בדעתו שאימו או אביו ימותו. דומה שלא היה חידוש בדבריו, אך הם נסכו בשומעיו ביטחון ואמונה כי המוות הוא גזרת גורל שנדחתה למועד בלתי ידוע. כולנו מסכינים עם המוות בפינו, אך ליבנו משליך אותו למקום נידח, בעתיד הרחוק. מפעם לפעם היו עוברות לידנו הלוויות בדרכן לבית הקברות, ואנחנו צפינו בהן באדישות, כאילו היו אירועים שאינם נוגעים לנו.”

“התעוררה בחצות כהרגלה מִדֵי לילה, לא בסיועו של שעון מעורר או דבר מה אחר, כי אם בשל הרצון שמלווה אותה ואינו מרפה ממנה אפילו בשנתה.”

“An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.”

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”

“I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.”

“I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.”

“I wake up early in the morning and walk for an hour. If I have something to write, I prefer to write in the morning until midday, and in the afternoon, I eat.”

“I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday.”

“I want a world where men live free from fear and coercion.”

“I found myself in a sea in which the waves of joy and sorrow were clashing against each other.”

“Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.”

“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.”

“At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.”

“According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.”

“I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.”

“There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.”

“Why don’t we keep track of the happy moments, so that afterward we will believe them? Is he the same man Was he really sincere?”

“I want a world where hearts are not deceived and do not deceive others.”

“I was suffering from a peculiar and persistent sense that I was being pursued, and also the conviction that under the political order of the times, our lives had no meaning.”

“In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.”