Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words.

Egypt has suffered more ordeals than the other countries to get where it is.

We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side.

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

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

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.

In the Arab world, there is no link between the cultural habits of peoples and the ways of thinking and creating of modern intellectuals. They are two separate worlds.