Most of those who died did not die of hunger but of hatred. Feeling hatred diminishes you. It eats at your from within and attacks the immune system. When you have hatred inside you, it always crushes you in the end.

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

I'd thought sexuality was instinctive or natural, but it's profoundly linked to inner security and cultural context.

It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn.

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.

We do not have many intellectuals who can speak out for us internationally. We have no writers who are recognized, respected and loved outside the Arab world.

I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take.