In the 70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away. Tahar Ben Jelloun More Quotes by Tahar Ben Jelloun More Quotes From 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 morocco country people The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings. Tahar Ben Jelloun umpires errors mistake Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl. Tahar Ben Jelloun real best-friend friendship Beauty is first and foremost an emotion. Tahar Ben Jelloun emotion firsts We must stop posing as victims of the West and behaving negatively towards the West. We must participate with the West on an equal footing in the reconstruction of the world. Tahar Ben Jelloun victim west world I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet. Tahar Ben Jelloun poet language guests Our steps invent the path as we proceed; behind us they leave no trace, only the void. So we shall always look ahead and trust our feet. They will take us as far as our minds will go... -- Tahar ben Jelloun Tahar Ben Jelloun feet mind looks I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer. Tahar Ben Jelloun praying prayer night 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 injustice world needs 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 accepting country people My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own. Tahar Ben Jelloun steers sensibility bedtime Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private. Tahar Ben Jelloun heart There is an important erotic element in A Thousand and One Nights, which is one of the keys to understanding the Orient. Tahar Ben Jelloun understanding keys night 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 pits mediocrity touching For me, poetry is a situation - a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history. Tahar Ben Jelloun situation states way 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 writing funny commitment Most of those who died did not die of hunger but of hatred. Feeling hatred diminishes you. It eats at your from within and attacks the immune system. When you have hatred inside you, it always crushes you in the end. Tahar Ben Jelloun crush hatred feelings Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words. Tahar Ben Jelloun mathematics form relationship Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever. Tahar Ben Jelloun achieve lasts forever 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 views men people
