Happy is he who can give himself up.
—Naguib Mahfouz
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.
—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
Topics: Questions, Questioning, Cleverness, Wisdom
I have condemned Khomeini’s fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie as a breach of international relations and as an assault on Islam as we know it in the era of apostasy. I believe that the wrong done by Khomeini towards Islam and the Muslims is no less than that done by the author himself. As regards freedom of expression, I have said that it must be considered sacred and that thought can only be corrected by counter-thought. During the debate, I supported the boycott of the book as a means of maintaining social peace, granted that such a decision would not be used as a pretext to constrain thought.
—Naguib Mahfouz
Topics: Thought
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
Topics: History
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