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

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

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

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.

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

To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power.

I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents.