Literature should be more revolutionary than revolutions themselves; writers must find the means to continue to be critical of the negative elements in the sociopolitical reality.

I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.

The real malady is fear of life, not of death

One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.

I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.

Without literature my life would be miserable.

There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.