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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.

— Naguib Mahfouz Midaq Alley (1947)

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More quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

He and Raifa each lived in hell, in a world of tedium.

The Harafish (1977)

According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.

Naguib Mahfouz in: Gary Dexter (2010)

Why do people laugh, dance in triumph, feel recklessly secure in positions of power? Why do they not remember the true place in the scheme of things and their inevitable end?

The Harafish (1977)

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

Michael J. Gelb (1996)

It is something worth picking from the thrash-can the alluring experience of the working days.

All Naguib Mahfouz quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Naguib Mahfouz (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.