Quotes By Naguib Mahfouz

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.

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

According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.

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.

One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.

Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.

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.

I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.

Sadat made us feel more secure.

I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

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.

Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.

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.

If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.

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.