God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.
I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.
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.
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.
One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.
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 was afraid of marriage. I had the impression married life would take up all my time. I saw myself drowning in visits and parties. No freedom.
Freedom of expression must be considered sacred and thought can only be corrected by counter thought.
I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand four hundred years old, is the Islamic civilization.
The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.
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.
If we reject science, we reject the common man.
I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening.
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.
For the first time in my life, I felt that a wave, a justice was sweeping away a deep-seated decay without any indulgence. I dearly wished that it would keep going without hesitation or deviation, in a spirit of purity forever.
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.
It’s not surprising that truly humanitarian manifestos originate frequently in minority circles or with people whose consciences are troubled by the problems of minorities.
Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.
We wont develop until we accept that reading is a vital necessity.
I’ve never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.