At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
For me, poetry is a situation – a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
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. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one’s mother tongue. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
I don’t feel guilty about expressing myself in French; nor do I feel that I am continuing the work of the colonizers. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
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. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
The power of the word in Morocco belonged to men and to the authorities. No one asked the point of view of poor people or women. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
In Morocco, it’s possible to see the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at the same time. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
We must stop posing as victims of the West and behaving negatively towards the West. We must participate with the West on an equal footing in the reconstruction of the world. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
I’d thought sexuality was instinctive or natural, but it’s profoundly linked to inner security and cultural context. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
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. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
In the ’70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they’d take my passport away. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don’t have to leave. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused. – Tahar Ben Jelloun
