Explore more quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

"I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening."

Government, Evening, Writer

"As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak."

Education, Goals, Agriculture, Democracy

"I started writing while I was a little boy. Maybe it's because I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday. Also, my love for good writing pushed me."

Love, Thought, Books, Reading

"I reject any path which rejects life, but I can't help loving Sufism because it sounds so beautiful. It gives relief in the midst of battle."

Life, Battle, Help

"I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while."

Love, Poetry, Relax

"I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things."

Society, Expression, Freedom, Right

"I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised."

Thought, Writer

"I accepted the interviews and encounters that had to be held with the media, but I would have preferred to work in peace."

Peace, Work, Media

"Hosni Mubarak... his constitution is not democratic, but he is democratic. We can voice our opinions now. The press is free."

Constitution, Now, Opinions, Press

"History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself."

History, Society, People, Ideas

Exlpore more Religion quotes

"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, Fact, Will

"It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, God, Gods, Universe

"Archbishop - A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, Christian, Rank

"A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, Church, Gentlemen, Heaven, Will

"The chief contribution of Protestantism to human thought is its massive proof that God is a bore."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, God, Thought, Proof, Protestantism

"Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly."

H. L. Mencken, American Writer

Religion, Machine, Man

"The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already."

Edward Abbey, American Author

Religion, Missionaries

"Religion is not a conclusion of the reason."

Lyman Abbott, American Author

Religion, Reason

"No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state."

Felix Adler, German Educator

Religion, Church, Purity, State

"The candidate was required to prepare himself by confession, fasting, and passing the night in prayer."

Horatio Alger, American Author

Religion, Confession, Night, Prayer