Top 25 Naguib Mahfouz Quotes

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Insults are the business of the court.

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

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

The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.

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.

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.