Let me put it this way: There is nothing in Islam that is fundamentally against the quest for knowledge.

I am not one of the new media experts working all the time with my computers and the PowerPoints and things of that sort.

On the banks of the Nile, the Rosetta branch, I lived an enjoyable childhood in the City of Disuq, which is the home of the famous mosque, Sidi Ibrahim.

From the dawn of history, science has probed the universe of unknowns, searching for the uniting laws of nature.

Curiosity - the rover and the concept - is what science is all about: the quest to reveal the unknown.

Investing in science education and curiosity-driven research is investing in the future.

The soft power of science has the potential to reshape global diplomacy.

I'd rather have the influence than the power, and the influence to me is to build institutions of independence and democracy, to regain for Egypt prestige in education and science and technology.

In today's world, America's soft power is commonly thought to reside in the global popularity of Hollywood movies, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Starbucks.

Despite differences of faith or even the occasional collisions between them, Egypt is united.

Every effort should be made to help build the new democratic nation with reconciliation and forgiveness, for the sake of Egypt and not for the benefit of a party or a group.

May you find what you are looking for and realize it is not the answer.

When can you understand that the music you play is very good? It is when people look at you but see no one, no one but the music!

You're in a horse race but you're thinking like a sheep. Sheep don't win horse races.

It is admirable to die the victim of one's faith; it is sad to die the dupe of one's ambition.

Sometimes it was hard to express how much you loved someone. You said the words, but you could never quite capture the depth of it. You could never quite hold someone tightly enough.

A wise man who cultivates wisdom may sometimes drown in it.

When it's time to let someone go, do it right. No surprises. No humiliation.

What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses?

Mothers, of course, are all right. They pay a chap's bills and don't bother him. But fathers bother a chap and never pay his bills.

I dream of a quiet man / who explains nothing and defends nothing, but only knows / where the rarest wildflowers / are blooming, and who goes, / and finds that he is smiling / not by his own will.