There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.

- Naguib Mahfouz

My countrymen have the right to shake my hand and talk to me if they so wish. Don't forget that their support and their reading of my works is what brought me the Nobel prize.

- Naguib Mahfouz

Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free.

- Naguib Mahfouz

Insults are the business of the court.

- Naguib Mahfouz

It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.

- Naguib Mahfouz

Sadat made us feel more secure.

- Naguib Mahfouz

The Nobel Prize has given me, for the first time in my life, the feeling that my literature could be appreciated on an international level.

- Naguib Mahfouz

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

- Naguib Mahfouz

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

- Naguib Mahfouz

Without literature my life would be miserable.

- Naguib Mahfouz

I was suffering from a peculiar and persistent sense that I was being pursued, and also the conviction that under the political order of the times, our lives had no meaning.

- Naguib Mahfouz

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

- Naguib Mahfouz

The Koran and the laws of all civilized nations legislate against the vilification of religions.

- Naguib Mahfouz

One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.

- Naguib Mahfouz

If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.

- Naguib Mahfouz

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

- Naguib Mahfouz

I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.

- Naguib Mahfouz

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

- Naguib Mahfouz

As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak.

- Naguib Mahfouz

We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

- Naguib Mahfouz