Naguib Mahfouz Quotes & Sayings

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

At times people who are extremely sad become lighthearted for the most trivial reasons, merely to obtain the relief furnished by the exactly opposite condition. — Naguib Mahfouz

But not to take a step forward is to take two steps backward", Abnum protested.

~ Before the Throne — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

The calendar has a magic that makes us imagine a memory can be resurrected and revived, but nothing returns. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

They had a relaxed look about them, appropriate for people going to a peaceful demonstration sanctioned by the authorities. — Naguib Mahfouz

Death by love is fairer by far than death by illness, said Amenhotep III. — Naguib Mahfouz

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic. — Naguib Mahfouz

Writing is for men who can think and feel, not mindless sensation seekers out of nightclubs and bars. But these are bad times. We are condemned to work with upstarts, clowns who no doubt got their training in a circus and then turned to journalism as the appropriate place to display their tricks. — Naguib Mahfouz

We wont develop until we accept that reading is a vital necessity. — Naguib Mahfouz

How to be bored while the sky is blue, and the Earth is green, and the flowers have this wonderful aroma, and the heart has this wonderful ability to love, and the soul has this infinite energy to believe. How to be bored while in this world there are those whom we love and like .and those who love us and like us — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

I want a world where hearts are not deceived and do not deceive others. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

What do you have to say as a devout Muslim concerning your lust for women? — Naguib Mahfouz

I want a world where men live free from fear and coercion. — Naguib Mahfouz

Falseness in life is the secret that makes man's inner self a rare truth; it hides from him although it's obvious to all. — 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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

If we reject science, we reject the common man. — Naguib Mahfouz

Without literature my life would be miserable. — Naguib Mahfouz

What a lot of graves there are laid out as far as the eye can see!. Their headstones are like hands raised in surrender, though they are beyond being threatened by anything. A city of silence and truth, where success and failure, murderer and victim come together, where thieves and policeman lie side by side in peace for the first and last time. — Naguib Mahfouz

When we're in love, we may resent it, but we certainly miss love once it's gone. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

Pharaoh is divinity made in flesh. The nobility are his deputies who reflect his light. How could their places be filled by a bunch of peasants, artisans and fishermen?" interjected Djoser.

"Yet they indeed take their positions," Abnum answered, "proving that they were better than those whom they replaced and that the gods embody themselves in whoever raises the standard of justices and mercy, regardless of their identities. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

Only the poor are handicapped by honor. — Naguib Mahfouz

Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

When will the state of the country be sound? ... When its people believe that the end result of cowardice is more disastrous than that of behaving with integrity. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

The heart is a place of secrets ... — Naguib Mahfouz

He shook his head sadly. 'What a fool you are. You've wasted your ability searching for something that doesn't exist.'
'When will you realize you don't exist? — Naguib Mahfouz

Visit me once each year, for it's wrong to abandon people forever. — Naguib Mahfouz

The shaykh interrupted him, saying, Not so fast. I'm the sort of person who praises only to clear the way to speak the truth, for the sake of encouragement, son of Abd al-Jawad — Naguib Mahfouz

Paraphrasing..Science is the language of the intellect of society. Art is language of the entire human personality. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

Muhammad Iffat has an inflexible, Turkish mentality but a heart of gold. — Naguib Mahfouz

His lover appeared to have boarded the train at Auguste Comte and passed by the station of theology, where the password was 'Yes, Mother.' This train was now traversing the realm of metaphysics, where the password was 'Certainly not, Mother.' In the distance, visible through a telescope, was the mountain of reality on which was inscribed its password, 'Open your eyes and be courageous. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

April. Month of dust and lies. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

An anxious heart is like a string that's out of tune. — Naguib Mahfouz

A crazy country, choking air, polluted hearts, treachery. Treachery and treason. — Naguib Mahfouz

Sadat made us feel more secure. — Naguib Mahfouz

Fear doesn't prevent death. It prevents life. — 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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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 — Naguib Mahfouz

Just think," I say, trying to calm her down. "The two of us naked in a car, but safe and sound all the same, kissing each other to the clap of thunder and the sound of the driving rain!"
"This is impossible," she says.
"But just think. Wouldn't you like, from this snug little shelter in the midst of cosmic rage, to stick your tongue out to the entire world? — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

I now believe that people are bustards with no ethics. It would be better for them to admit it and build their communal life on that admission. The new ethical issue becomes how to maintain public welfare and human happiness in a society of bustards and scum — Naguib Mahfouz

How could the prisoner break his chains? I pictured a world, a righteous world, with no sin, no bonds, no social obligations; a world throbbing with creativity, innovation, and thought, nothing else; a world of dedicated solitude, without father, mother, wife, or child; a world where a man could travel lightly, immersed in art alone. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

Isn't it sad that a man of no significance like this marriage clerk should impede the progress of your life? But a lowly worm eats the corpses of the most exalted individuals. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club. — Naguib Mahfouz

He knew Muhammad Iffat was of Turkish descent and stubborn as a mule. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

Insults are the business of the court. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

After living for a month in his home, her character had been infected with the virus of submission to his will, which terrified everyone in the house. — Naguib Mahfouz

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. — Naguib Mahfouz

Love is like health. It is taken lightly when present and cherished when it departs. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

Happy is he who can give himself up. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

Every inch a person's body travels on the road of separation seems like miles to the heart. — Naguib Mahfouz

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

The real malady is fear of life, not of death — Naguib Mahfouz

You know what I'm afraid of? That God is sick of us. — Naguib Mahfouz

Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease. — Naguib Mahfouz

It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind. — Naguib Mahfouz

It is an indication of truth's jealousy that it has not made for anyone a path to it, and that it has not deprived anyone of the hope of attaining it, and it has left people running in the deserts of perplexity and drowning in the seas of doubt; and he who thinks he has attained it, it dissociates itself from, and he who thinks he has dissociated himself from it has lost his way. — Naguib Mahfouz

Why don't we keep track of the happy moments, so that afterward we will believe them? Is he the same man Was he really sincere? — Naguib Mahfouz

When disasters come at the same time, they compete with each other. — Naguib Mahfouz

Don't go back over the past. Let it depart, never to return. — Naguib Mahfouz

Oh...why has time changed us? — Naguib Mahfouz