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

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... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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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... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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The Koran and the laws of all civilized nations legislate against the vilification of religions... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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We are passing through a very sensitive time, and on the whole, this country is facing very big problems... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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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... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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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... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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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... view

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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

By: Naguib Mahfouz

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