The author, in his work, must be like God in the Universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.

The true poet for me is a priest. As soon as he dons the cassock, he must leave his family.

Life must be a constant education; one must learn everything, from speaking to dying.

(Egypt) is a great place for contrasts: splendid things gleam in the dust.

And indeed, what is better than to sit by one's fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window and the lamp is buring?

Only three things are infinite. The sky in its stars, the sea in its drops of water, and the heart in its tears.