Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouzwas an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films...
NationalityEgyptian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 December 1911
CityCairo, Egypt
CountryEgypt
Naguib Mahfouz quotes about
I am practically in the employ of Mr. Nobel. I have to meet everyone he sends my way.
I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.
We wont develop until we accept that reading is a vital necessity.
Winning Nobel imposed on me a lifestyle to which I am not used and which I would not have preferred.
I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party.
My wife thought I deserved it, but I always thought the Nobel a Western prize.
I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.
I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.
History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.
For the first time in my life, I felt that a wave, a justice was sweeping away a deep-seated decay without any indulgence. I dearly wished that it would keep going without hesitation or deviation, in a spirit of purity forever.
A priest's life is spent between question and answer-- or between a question and the attempt to answer it. The question is the summary of the spiritual life.
Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.
In the calculus of good deeds you have the most to gain.
I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday.