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48 quotes by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بن جلون ; born in Fes, French Morocco, 1 December 1944) 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.
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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... →

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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... →

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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... →

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

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I don't feel guilty about expressing myself in French; nor do I feel that I am continuing the work of the colonizers.

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

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At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets.

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I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents.

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I liked Sartre's views but not his writing.

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

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What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.

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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.

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

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