Quotations by Author

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.

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

I'd thought sexuality was instinctive or natural, but it's profoundly linked to inner security and cultural context.

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.

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.

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

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

There isn't enough information, and no attempt is made to encourage people to know what's going on. But there is always rumour, the weapon of the poor.