Zitat des Tages von Naguib Mahfouz:
The writer interweaves a story with his own doubts, questions, and values. That is art.
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.
Sadat made us feel more secure.
I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.
Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.
If we reject science, we reject the common man.
Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.
Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.
I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.
I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.
The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.
I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.
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 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.
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.
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.
I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.
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.
It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.
Insults are the business of the court.
Without literature my life would be miserable.
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.
At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.
One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.
We are passing through a very sensitive time, and on the whole, this country is facing very big problems.
According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.
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.
An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.
Events at home, at work, in the street - these are the bases for a story.
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 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.
In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.
I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.
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.
God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.