French - Poet | December 1, 1944 -
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
PeopleMeLanguageI CanTakeWould
For me, poetry is a situation - a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history.
LifeHistoryPoetryMeSituation
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.
VisionWordsPoetryWorldSomething
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.
I AmLanguageBornInteractionPoet
Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.
BeautyEmotionFirstForemost
My sensibility steers me toward writers who are out on their own.
MeOutOwnWhoSensibilityWriters
We do not have many intellectuals who can speak out for us internationally. We have no writers who are recognized, respected and loved outside the Arab world.
WorldSpeakLovedOutsideOutUs
We have no Arab intellectuals of international stature because we live in a state of generalized mediocrity. We are suspended in the pit without touching the bottom.
LiveMediocrityWithoutBottomState
The world does not look to us in the Arab world out of a healthy desire for knowledge.
KnowledgeWorldLookDesireHealthy
What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.
WarWorldEndPettyEverything
A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely.
CivilizationPossibleModernExist
An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused.
VoiceChoirIndividualSomething
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Tahar Ben Jelloun quotes