180 Quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

The criminal is trying to solve his immediate problems.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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.