Top 80 Quotes & Sayings by Naguib Mahfouz

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz.

Last updated on November 8, 2024.

Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in the Arabic literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. He is the only Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 movie scripts, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays over a 70-year career, from the 1930s until 2004. All of his novels take place in Egypt, and always mentions the lane, which equals the world. His most famous works include The Trilogy and Children of Gebelawi. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films; no Arab writer exceeds Mahfouz in number of works that have been adapted for cinema and television. While Mahfouz's literature is classified as realist literature, existential themes appear in it.

Egyptian - Writer | December 11, 1911 - August 30, 2006

Source: Wikipedia

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

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

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

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

Insults are the business of the court.

Naguib Mahfouz

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

Naguib Mahfouz

The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.

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 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.

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

Naguib Mahfouz

We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

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

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

Naguib Mahfouz

If we reject science, we reject the common man.

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

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

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

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

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

Naguib Mahfouz

Sadat made us feel more secure.

Naguib Mahfouz

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.

Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naguib Mahfouz

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

Naguib Mahfouz

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

Naguib Mahfouz

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

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 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

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

Naguib Mahfouz

Without literature my life would be miserable.

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

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

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 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

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

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

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 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.

Naguib Mahfouz