Tahar Ben Jelloun Quotes

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Tahar Ben Jelloun

Profession : Poet

Birth : December 1, 1944

It is impossible to disregard such an important medium as television. We should know how to use it, learn to work in it and express new values in it.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

There are very few great poets in the world.

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

It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn.

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

I have written about the dispossessed, immigrants, the condition of women who do not enjoy the same legal rights as men, the Palestinians who are deprived of their land and condemned to exile.

Tahar Ben Jelloun