Naguib Mahfouz

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.

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

If we reject science, we reject the common man.

Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.

If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.

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

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.

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

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

I wake up early in the morning and walk for an hour. If I have something to write, I prefer to write in the morning until midday, and in the afternoon, I eat.

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

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

God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.

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.

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.

We are like a woman with a difficult pregnancy. We have to rebuild the social classes in Egypt, and we must change the way things were.

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.