Quotes By Naguib Mahfouz

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.

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

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.

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

Insults are the business of the court.

It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.

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 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.

If we reject science, we reject the common man.

Events at home, at work, in the street - these are the bases for a story.

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.

Without literature my life would be miserable.

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.

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

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

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