Quotes from Tahar Ben Jelloun

Egypt has suffered more ordeals than the other countries to get where it is.

This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue.

Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.

Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words.

The power of the word in Morocco belonged to men and to the authorities. No one asked the point of view of poor people or women.

I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet.

There are very few great poets in the world.

To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power.

I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer.

Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private.

We must stop posing as victims of the West and behaving negatively towards the West. We must participate with the West on an equal footing in the reconstruction of the world.

Intellectuals try to keep going. But their situation is very difficult. Those who have had the courage to voice their opposition have often paid a very high price.

I write about wounds, the eternal treasons of life. It's not very funny, but it's sincere. My commitment is to sincerity.

I'd thought sexuality was instinctive or natural, but it's profoundly linked to inner security and cultural context.

I am a Moroccan writer of French expression.

I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take.

In Morocco, it's possible to see the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at the same time.

In the 70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away.

New ideas should confront old ideas. We must refer to the example of Europe. People have fought to make Europe what it is today. Freedom is not something that is served up on a plate.

In the Arab world, there is no link between the cultural habits of peoples and the ways of thinking and creating of modern intellectuals. They are two separate worlds.

The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings.

We do not have many intellectuals who can speak out for us internationally. We have no writers who are recognized, respected and loved outside the Arab world.

My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own.

I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents.