Quotes By Tahar Ben Jelloun

There are very few great poets in the world.

In the '70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away.

I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take.

Egypt has suffered more ordeals than the other countries to get where it is.

Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl.

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue.

The world does not look to us in the Arab world out of a healthy desire for knowledge.

An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused.

New ideas should confront old ideas. We must refer to the example of Europe. People have fought to make Europe what it is today. Freedom is not something that is served up on a plate.

Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private.

In Morocco, it's possible to see the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at the same time.

Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.

I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer.

My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own.

It is impossible to disregard such an important medium as television. We should know how to use it, learn to work in it and express new values in it.

A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely.

I came to poetry through the urgent need to denounce injustice, exploitation, humiliation. I know that's not enough to change the world. But to remain silent would have been a kind of intolerable complicity.