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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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" People must insist on the right to say no, to be alone, to stand out from the herd. Creative artists can say all this in their own way and in their own field, by hard, rigorous work. "

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

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

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" There are very few great poets in the world. "

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" 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. "

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

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

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" 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. "

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" 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. "

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" Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl. "

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" 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. "

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

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

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" We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side. "

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" 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. "

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

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

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

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

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" 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. "

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" 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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" 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. "

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" The intellectual, the man of thought, doubt and analysis, should give the best of himself. "

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" There is a gulf between the Arab peoples and Arab intellectuals. "

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

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" What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre. "

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

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

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