Naguib Mahfouz – 17 Quotes

17 Quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

– 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

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 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

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.

– 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

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

– 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

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

– 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

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

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

– 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

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

– Naguib Mahfouz

If we reject science, we reject the common man.

– 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

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.

– Naguib Mahfouz