I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet.

There is an important erotic element in A Thousand and One Nights, which is one of the keys to understanding the Orient.

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

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

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

My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own.

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.