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.

I am glad to have found a readership, but one can’t write only what is likely to sell. A writer is not a shopkeeper. A writer creates an imaginary world that he transmits to others.

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets.

My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don't have to leave.

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.

Our steps invent the path as we proceed; behind us they leave no trace, only the void. So we shall always look ahead and trust our feet. They will take us as far as our minds will go... -- Tahar ben Jelloun