Naguib Mahfouz

“... det är bra för en människa att meditera över de drömmar hon haft. Då framstår den passiva tron på vetenskapen som en verklighetsflykt lika mycket som mysticismen. Därför är arbete och handling nödvändiga. Men de måste vara grundade på tro. Frågan är hur vi kan skaffa oss en tro värdig livet. ...'Jag tror på livet och människorna', hade Ahmed sagt. 'Jag anser det vara min plikt att stödja deras ideal, så länge de är riktiga, för passivitet i det fallet innebär feghet och flykt. Jag anser det också vara min plikt att motarbeta deras ideal, om jag tror att de är felaktiga, för passivitet då innebär förräderi.' Man kunde fråga sig: vad är riktigt och vad är felaktigt? Men kanske tvivlet var ett slags verklighetsflykt liksom mysticismen och den passiva tron på vetenskapen. Likväl: kunde man på samma gång vara en idealisk lärare, en idealisk äkta man och en ständig revoltör?”

“Din splendorile cafelei de odineoară, neschimbat rămăsese doar mangalul.”

“Călătoria pare să fie destul de lungă. Tânărul pare să se fi îmbarcat în trenul lui Auguste Compte, să fi trecut prin stația teologiei, a cărei deviză era: „Da! Crede și nu cerceta” pentru a poposi și a scormoni acum în tărâmurile metafizicii a cărei deviză este: „Nu!”, iar în depărtare se întrezărește realismul, pe al cărui frontispiciu stă scris: „Deschide ochii și întdrăznește!”.”

“Nothing records the effects of a sad life so graphically as the human body.”

“A priest's life is spent between question and answer-- or between a question and the attempt to answer it. The question is the summary of the spiritual life.”

“I found myself in a sea in which the waves of joy and sorrow were clashing against each other.”

“I believe in life and in people. I feel obliged to advocate their highest ideals as long as I believe them to be true. I also see myself compelled to revolt against ideals I believe to be false, since recoiling from rebellion would be a form of treason”

“Treat a disease with drunkenness, laughter, and sport. If you find any trace of it after that, give it to me.”

“The calendar has a magic that makes us imagine a memory can be resurrected and revived, but nothing returns.”

“Visit me once each year, for it's wrong to abandon people forever.”

“The way love can disregard fears, however, is an age-old wonder. No fear is able to spoil love's development or keep it from dreaming of its appointed hour.”

“Many things combine to show that Midaq Alley is one of the gems of times gone by and that it once shone forth like a flashing star in the history of Cairo. Which Cairo do I mean? That of the Fatimads, the Mamlukes, or the Sultans? Only God and the archaeologists know the answer to that, but in any case, the alley is certainly an ancient relic and a precious one. How could it be otherwise with its stone-paved surface leading directly to the historic Sanadiqiya Street. And then there is its cafe known as "Kirsha's". Its walls decorated with multicolored arabesques, now crumbling, give off strong odors from the medicines of olden times, smells which have now become the spices and folk-cures of today and tomorrow ... Although Midaq Alley lives in almost complete isolation from all surrounding activity, it clamors with a distinctive and personal life of its own. Fundamentally and basically, its roots connect with life as a whole and yet, at the same time, it retains a number of the secrets of a world now past.”

“As for life's tragedies, our love will defeat them. Love is the most effective cure. In the crevices of disasters, happiness lies like a diamond in a mind, so let us instill in ourselves the wisdom of love.”

“Perhaps boredom was an irrelevant concept for a life as monotonous as hers.”

“We usually exchange bare civilities at breakfast and then settle back to loathe each other cordially in silence.”

“Writing is for men who can think and feel, not mindless sensation seekers out of nightclubs and bars. But these are bad times. We are condemned to work with upstarts, clowns who no doubt got their training in a circus and then turned to journalism as the appropriate place to display their tricks.”

“It's not surprising that truly humanitarian manifestos originate frequently in minority circles or with people whose consciences are troubled by the problems of minorities.”

“It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind.”

“أن الجريمة التي تفلت من العقاب تكرس الإثم بين الناس وتزعزع الثقة في العدالة الإلهية وتمهد لارتكاب المزيد من الجرائم”

“The real malady is fear of life, not of death”

“The heart is a place of secrets...”

“In the calculus of good deeds you have the most to gain.”

“If we reject science, we reject the common man.”

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”

“Death is more merciful than hope itself! There is nothing surprising in this, for death is divinely appointed, while hope is the creation of human folly. Both end in frustration. Am I destined to lead a life of endless frustration?-(The Beginning and the End)”

“You know what I'm afraid of? That God is sick of us.”

“He seemed to be waiting for a miracle to save him from the depths his life had reached and take him to a land of dreams.”

“We wont develop until we accept that reading is a vital necessity.”

“Madness is the acme of intelligence.”

“paraphrasing.."Science is the language of the intellect of society. Art is language of the entire human personality.”