At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

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

The Arab world also won the Nobel with me. I believe that international doors have opened, and that from now on, literate people will consider Arab literature also. We deserve that recognition.

It is simply not part of my culture to preserve notes. I have never heard of a writer preserving his early drafts.

I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening.

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.

The heart is a place of secrets.