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

At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things.

As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak.

I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace.

We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

The Nobel Prize has given me, for the first time in my life, the feeling that my literature could be appreciated on an international level.