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

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

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

Intellectuals try to keep going. But their situation is very difficult. Those who have had the courage to voice their opposition have often paid a very high price.

We must stop posing as victims of the West and behaving negatively towards the West. We must participate with the West on an equal footing in the reconstruction of the world.

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

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