Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

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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.

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This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue.

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An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused.

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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.

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Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever.

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Quotes by Tahar Ben Jelloun