Quotes By Naguib Mahfouz

Without literature my life would be miserable.

I started writing while I was a little boy. Maybe it's because I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday. Also, my love for good writing pushed me.

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

My wife thought I deserved it, but I always thought the Nobel a Western prize.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

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

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

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

We are like a woman with a difficult pregnancy. We have to rebuild the social classes in Egypt, and we must change the way things were.

One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.

Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.

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.

I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.

Sadat made us feel more secure.

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

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

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.

Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.

It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat.

If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.

As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak.

I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.

My countrymen have the right to shake my hand and talk to me if they so wish. Don't forget that their support and their reading of my works is what brought me the Nobel prize.

We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

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

I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while.

I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.

The Nobel Prize has given me, for the first time in my life, the feeling that my literature could be appreciated on an international level.

The writer interweaves a story with his own doubts, questions, and values. That is art.

If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.