The world does not look to us in the Arab world out of a healthy desire for knowledge.

• 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.
• Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.
• 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.
• Intellectuals try to keep going. But their situation is very difficult. Those who have had the courage to voice their opposition have often paid a very high price.
• Emigration is no longer a solution it's a defeat. People are risking death, drowning every day, but they're knocking on doors that are not open.
• We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side.
• New ideas should confront old ideas. We must refer to the example of Europe. People have fought to make Europe what it is today. Freedom is not something that is served up on a plate.
• Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl.
• I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter.
• I write about wounds, the eternal treasons of life. It's not very funny, but it's sincere. My commitment is to sincerity.