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.

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

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

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.

In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.

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

I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.

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.

My wife thought I deserved it, but I always thought the Nobel a Western prize.

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

An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers.

According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.