It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn.

We have no Arab intellectuals of international stature because we live in a state of generalized mediocrity. We are suspended in the pit without touching the bottom.

Emigration is no longer a solution; it's a defeat. People are risking death, drowning every day, but they're knocking on doors that are not open.

Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private.

Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.

In the 70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away.

I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter.