19 Quotes & Sayings By Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo, Egypt on October 17, 1911. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts in 1928 and continued his studies in literature, philosophy and economics at Columbia University, where he received his doctorate in 1938. He served as a professor of literature at Alexandria University until 1952 when he left to teach at the American University in Cairo. Mahfouz also taught at the Lenin Institute for Oriental Studies in Moscow Read more

Mahfouz wrote more than forty novels, most of which have been translated into English, French, German, Italian and Arabic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1988 "for an important contribution to contemporary Arabic literature."

I want a world where men live free from fear...
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I want a world where men live free from fear and coercion. Naguib Mahfouz
Oh...why has time changed us?
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Oh...why has time changed us? Naguib Mahfouz
Beauty itself is a painful convulsion in the heart, an...
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Beauty itself is a painful convulsion in the heart, an abundance of vitality in the soul, and a mad chase undertaken by the spirit until it encounters the heavens. Naguib Mahfouz
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I found myself in a sea in which the waves of joy and sorrow were clashing against each other. Naguib Mahfouz
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Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life. Naguib Mahfouz
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At times people who are extremely sad become lighthearted for the most trivial reasons, merely to obtain the relief furnished by the exactly opposite condition. Naguib Mahfouz
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Don't go back over the past. Let it depart, never to return. Naguib Mahfouz
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Why don’t we keep track of the happy moments, so that afterward we will believe them? Is he the same man Was he really sincere? Naguib Mahfouz
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I want a world where hearts are not deceived and do not deceive others. Naguib Mahfouz
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No blasphemy harms Islam and Muslims so much as the call for murdering a writer Naguib Mahfouz
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An anxious heart is like a string that's out of tune. Naguib Mahfouz
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It is an indication of truth's jealousy that it has not made for anyone a path to it, and that it has not deprived anyone of the hope of attaining it, and it has left people running in the deserts of perplexity and drowning in the seas of doubt; and he who thinks he has attained it, it dissociates itself from, and he who thinks he has dissociated himself from it has lost his way. Naguib Mahfouz
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There is no alternative to action, and that requires faith. The issue is how we are to mold for ourselves a belief system that is worthy of life. Naguib Mahfouz
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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
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I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening. Naguib Mahfouz
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God did not intend religion to be an exercise club. Naguib Mahfouz
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I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while. 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