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Home
Authors
Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian
Novelist
About the author
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Style
#Forget
Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Winning
Without literature my life would be miserable.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Life
#Literature
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Man
#Questions
#Answers
My wife thought I deserved it, but I always thought the Nobel a Western prize.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Wife
#Thought
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Man
#Prayer
Insults are the business of the court.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Court
#Business
#Insults
In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#People
#Today
#Democracy
If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Want
#People
#Nothing
#Religion
#Sensitivity
If we reject science, we reject the common man.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Science
#Man
One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Effect
#Literary
I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Committee
#Politics
#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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#People
#Eye
#Nothing
#Society
#Heroes
If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Want
#Day
Sadat made us feel more secure.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
The Arab world also won the Nobel with me. I believe that international doors have opened, and that from now on, literate people will consider Arab literature also. We deserve that recognition.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Now
#People
#Will
#World
#Literature
The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Problems
#Trying
The Koran and the laws of all civilized nations legislate against the vilification of religions.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Nations
#Laws
#Koran
We are passing through a very sensitive time, and on the whole, this country is facing very big problems.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Time
#Problems
#Country
The writer interweaves a story with his own doubts, questions, and values. That is art.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Art
#Writer
#Questions
#Values
Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Today
#Needs
#Civilization
#Religion
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Woman
#Change
#Pregnancy
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Being
#Sense
#Suffering
#Order
#Meaning
#Conviction
It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Culture
#Writer
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Time
#Life
#Feeling
#First
#Literature
Events at home, at work, in the street - these are the bases for a story.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Work
#Home
#Events
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Talk
#Right
#Support
#Forget
#Reading
I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Thought
#Books
#Reading
An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Age
According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Man
#Choice
#Principles
#Repentance
#Punishment
#Heresy
God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#God
#Religion
#Exercise
History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#People
#Society
#History
#Ideas
#Prison
Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Now
#Opinions
#Voice
#Press
#Constitution
I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Work
#Peace
#Media
I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Right
#Society
I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Thought
#Writer
I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Right
#Freedom
#Society
#Expression
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Nothing
#Writing
#Money
#Literature
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Love
#Poetry
#Relax
I reject any path which rejects life, but I can't help loving Sufism because it sounds so beautiful. It gives relief in the midst of battle.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Life
#Help
#Battle
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Love
#Thought
#Writing
#Books
#Reading
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.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Goals
#Democracy
#Education
#Direction
#Agriculture
#Tension
I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Government
#Writer
#Evening
I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egyptian
Novelist
#Right
#Judgment