Quotes by Tahar Ben Jelloun

About Tahar Ben Jelloun:

Tahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan writer. The entirety of his work is written in French, although his first language is Arabic. He became known for his 1985 novel L’Enfant de Sable (The Sand Child). Today he lives in Paris and continues to write. He has been named as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

There is a gulf between the Arab peoples and Arab intellectuals.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Respecter une femme, c'est pouvoir envisager l'amitié avec elle ; ce qui n'exclut pas le jeu de la séduction, et même, dans certains cas, le désir et l'amour.

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

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

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

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

For me, poetry is a situation - a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

There are very few great poets in the world.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

I write about wounds, the eternal treasons of life. It's not very funny, but it's sincere. My commitment is to sincerity.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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

Tahar Ben Jelloun

I have written about the dispossessed, immigrants, the condition of women who do not enjoy the same legal rights as men, the Palestinians who are deprived of their land and condemned to exile.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Author Bio

  • NameTahar Ben Jelloun
  • DescriptionMoroccan writer and poet
  • BornDecember 1, 1944
  • CountryMorocco
  • ProfessionWriter; Poet; Psychotherapist; Novelist
  • WorksThe Sand Child; This Blinding Absence Of Light;
  • AwardsOfficer Of The Legion Of Honour; Grand Officer Of The Legion Of Honour; Commander Of The National Order Of Merit; Prix Goncourt