Top 47 Quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

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

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

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

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

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

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

I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.

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

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

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