Someone else is going to read for me or go at my place to the mosque, and/or to tell me you shouldn't take anything from the West because the West is the enemy and so on. It is to me to decide.

Writing is one of the most ancient forms of prayer. To write is to believe communication is possible that other people are good, that you can awaken their generosity and their desire to do better.

The real mistake of women was to let the memoir, the collective, the history, space of producing history - to let it in the hands of men.

Nature is woman's best friend,' she [Yasmina] often said. 'If you're having troubles, you just swim in the water, stretch out in a field, or look up at the stars. That's how a woman cures her fears'.

Being frozen into the passive position of an object whose very existence depends on the eye of its beholder turn the educated modern Western women into a harem slave.

Maturity is when you start feeling the motion of zaman (time) as if it is a sensuous caress. p.216

Pessimism is the luxury of the powerful.

I, as a Muslim woman living in 1993, I want to have two things - the mosque and the satellite, both at the same time. And no one can mutilate me by telling me I cannot have the mosque or the Koran.

I am intelligent enough to be critical towards the West and take what I need and reject what is bad for me.

Morocco is such a beautiful place. It's incredibly beautiful. And also it is captivating place because for a writer, you feel that you make impact.

But when your situation is hopeless, all you can do is turn the world upside down, transform it according to your wishes, and create anew.

Then sail, my fine lady, on the billowing wave -The water below is as dark as the grave, And maybe you'll sink in your little blue boat -It's hope, and hope only, that keeps us afloat

I mean, if you think about doing things to people like that, if you think about it too much, it gets all up in you and you can't control it after a while. Then they really got you.

American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.

People are at the mercy of internet trolls who bring people who are excellent in their fields down to their level. They're diminishing someone's flame to make theirs brighter.

The ocean of solutions is within, enliven that. It's a world of clues, a world of mystery but the mystery can get solved, you can find a lot of answers for these things within.

Whoever finishes a revolution only halfway, digs his own grave.

Unfortunate and wretched are those who have respected a book they did not love and hated those they did.

It's not an irrational decision, I've been thinking about this for quite a while and maybe it'll be good for me [on his career break

Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.