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All Quotes by author - Tahar Ben Jelloun

" A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely. "

" An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused. "

" At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets. "

" Beauty is first and foremost an emotion. "

" Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever. "

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

" Emigration is no longer a solution; it's a defeat. People are risking death, drowning every day, but they're knocking on doors that are not open. "

" For me, poetry is a situation - a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history. "

" 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. "

" I am a Moroccan writer of French expression. "

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

" I came to poetry through the urgent need to denounce injustice, exploitation, humiliation. I know that's not enough to change the world. But to remain silent would have been a kind of intolerable complicity. "

Change The World

" 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. "

" I don't feel guilty about expressing myself in French; nor do I feel that I am continuing the work of the colonizers. "

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

" I have written about the dispossessed, immigrants, the condition of women who do not enjoy the same legal rights as men, the Palestinians who are deprived of their land and condemned to exile. "

" I liked Sartre's views but not his writing. "

" I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" It is impossible to disregard such an important medium as television. We should know how to use it, learn to work in it and express new values in it. "

" It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn. "

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

" My characters are driven by a passionate desire for justice. They are rebellious and incorruptible. "

" My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don't have to leave. "

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

" 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. "

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