Home is not where you are born;
home is where all your attempts
to escape cease
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

Death is more merciful than hope itself! There is nothing surprising in this, for death is divinely appointed, while hope is the creation of human folly. Both end in frustration. Am I destined to lead a life of endless frustration?
Naguib Mahfouz

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.
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

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

Todays interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.
Naguib Mahfouz