 At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets. |
| To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power. |
| 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. |
| The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings. |
| There are very few great poets in the world. |
| I don't feel guilty about expressing myself in French; nor do I feel that I am continuing the work of the colonizers. |
| Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words. |
| 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. |
| I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents. |
| 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. |
| I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter. |
| We have no Arab intellectuals of international stature because we live in a state of generalized mediocrity. We are suspended in the pit without touching the bottom. |
| A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely. |
| My characters are driven by a passionate desire for justice. They are rebellious and incorruptible. |
| Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private. |
| I'd thought sexuality was instinctive or natural, but it's profoundly linked to inner security and cultural context. |
| I write about wounds, the eternal treasons of life. It's not very funny, but it's sincere. My commitment is to sincerity. |
| My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don't have to leave. |
| This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue. |
| Emigration is no longer a solution; it's a defeat. People are risking death, drowning every day, but they're knocking on doors that are not open. |
