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

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.

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

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

In the 70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away.

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

I came to poetry through the urgent need to denounce injustice, exploitation, humiliation. I know that's not enough to change the world. But to remain silent would have been a kind of intolerable complicity.