In Morocco, it's possible to see the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at the same time.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

In the Arab world, there is no link between the cultural habits of peoples and the ways of thinking and creating of modern intellectuals. They are two separate worlds.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

Intellectuals try to keep going. But their situation is very difficult. Those who have had the courage to voice their opposition have often paid a very high price.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

My characters are driven by a passionate desire for justice. They are rebellious and incorruptible.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

New ideas should confront old ideas. We must refer to the example of Europe. People have fought to make Europe what it is today. Freedom is not something that is served up on a plate.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

People must insist on the right to say no, to be alone, to stand out from the herd. Creative artists can say all this in their own way and in their own field, by hard, rigorous work.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

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

The intellectual, the man of thought, doubt and analysis, should give the best of himself.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

The power of the word in Morocco belonged to men and to the authorities. No one asked the point of view of poor people or women.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

The world does not look to us in the Arab world out of a healthy desire for knowledge.
Tahar Ben Jelloun

There are very few great poets in the world.
Tahar Ben Jelloun