Quote

I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization the second, one thousand four hundred years old, is the Islamic civilization.

Naguib Mahfouz

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Naguib Mahfouz
Age: 94 †
Born: 1911
Born: December 11
Died: 2006
Died: August 30
Artist
Autobiographer
Film Writer
Intellectual
Journalist
Novelist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Short Story Writer
Translator
Writer
Cairo
Egypt
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha
First
Thousand
Formed
Years
Four
Islamic
Age
Son
Happy
Seven
History
Civilization
Two
Hundred
Certain
Marriage
Firsts
Second
Civilizations

More quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

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Only the poor are handicapped by honor.
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When will the state of the country be sound?... When its people believe that the end result of cowardice is more disastrous than that of behaving with integrity.
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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
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If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.
Naguib Mahfouz
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It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.
Naguib Mahfouz
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I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.
Naguib Mahfouz
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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
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It's not surprising that truly humanitarian manifestos originate frequently in minority circles or with people whose consciences are troubled by the problems of minorities.
Naguib Mahfouz
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Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.
Naguib Mahfouz
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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
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He seemed to be waiting for a miracle to save him from the depths his life had reached and take him to a land of dreams.
Naguib Mahfouz
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One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.
Naguib Mahfouz
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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
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The real malady is fear of life, not of death
Naguib Mahfouz
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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
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The writer interweaves a story with his own doubts, questions, and values. That is art.
Naguib Mahfouz
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I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.
Naguib Mahfouz
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The calendar has a magic that makes us imagine a memory can be resurrected and revived, but nothing returns.
Naguib Mahfouz
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I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.
Naguib Mahfouz
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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