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Quotes from Midaq Alley — Naguib Mahfouz

1911–2006 Egypt

← All quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

7 quotes

If money is the aim and object of those who squabble for power, then there is clearly no harm in money being the objective of the poor voters.

Midaq Alley (1947)

He [Kirsha] was a narcotics peddler and accustomed to doing his business under a veil of darkness. Normal life had eluded him and he had become a prey to perversions.

Midaq Alley (1947)

It's fantastic the way these young men act. Why, they scarcely have a penny to their names, yet they see no reason why they shouldn't get married and populate the whole alley with children who get their food from garbage carts.

Midaq Alley (1947)

Abbas now marveled at the strength of love, its power and its strange magic. He thought it right that God had created mankind capable of love and then left the task of developing life to the fertility of love.

Midaq Alley (1947)

The barber is young and Mr. Alwan is old; the barber is of the same class as Hamida and Mr. Alwan is not. The marriage of a man like Alwan to a girl like your daughter is bound to bring problems which will make her unhappy.

Midaq Alley (1947)

Kirsha thought of Hitler as the world's greatest bully; indeed his admiration for him stemmed from what he heard of his cruelty and barbarity. He wished him success, viewing him like those mythical bravados of literature Antar and Abu Zaid.

Midaq Alley (1947)

What hopeless wretches we are. Our country is pitiful and so are the people. Why is it that the only time we find a little happiness is when the world is involved in a bloody war? Surely it's only the devil who has pity on us in this world.

Midaq Alley (1947)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Naguib Mahfouz (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.