Best 85 quotes of Naguib Mahfouz on MyQuotes

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

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

A priest's life is spent between question and answer-- or between a question and the attempt to answer it. The question is the summary of the spiritual life.

Art is a criticism of society and life, and I believe that if life became perfect, art would be meaningless and cease to exist.

As for life's tragedies, our love will defeat them. Love is the most effective cure. In the crevices of disasters, happiness lies like a diamond in a mind, so let us instill in ourselves the wisdom of love.

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.

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

"Death by love is fairer by far than death by illness", said Amenhotep III.

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

Excessive concern with religion seems to me a last resort for people who have been exhausted by life.

Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.

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.

Freedom of expression must be considered sacred and thought can only be corrected by counter thought.

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.

He seemed to be waiting for a miracle to save him from the depths his life had reached and take him to a land of dreams.

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

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

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

I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.

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.

I believe in life and in people. I feel obliged to advocate their highest ideals as long as I believe them to be true. I also see myself compelled to revolt against ideals I believe to be false, since recoiling from rebellion would be a form of treason

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

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

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 found myself in a sea in which the waves of joy and sorrow were clashing against each other.

If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.

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

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.

In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.

Insults are the business of the court.

In the calculus of good deeds you have the most to gain.

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 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.

I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Literature should be more revolutionary than revolutions themselves; writers must find the means to continue to be critical of the negative elements in the sociopolitical reality.

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.

My wife thought I deserved it, but I always thought the Nobel a Western prize.

Nothing records the effects of a sad life so graphically as the human body.

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

Only the poor are handicapped by honor.

paraphrasing.."Science is the language of the intellect of society. Art is language of the entire human personality.

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.