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

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.

It is impossible to disregard such an important medium as television. We should know how to use it, learn to work in it and express new values in it.

Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl.

Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever.

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.

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