Voices from the Other World Quotes

“All people seek refuge in the shade of the leafy tree, but when winter strips it bare they forsake it without regret.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“Could it be that the agony of our long-ago love still toys with this ancient heart, so close to its demise?”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“The sages have said that a person does not merit the divine term ‘human’ until he is able to govern his lusts and his passions.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“A bit of superstition relieves the mind of the weight of facts and rigorous science.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“Behold the tree rich with leaves, whose branches covered in luxuriant greenery fill up the air. See how the people take refuge in its spreading shade from the burning rays of the sun, and how they pluck its low-hanging fruit. Then look upon this same tree in winter. See how the cold winds have stripped it bare, and how all of its leaves have fallen, and how its limbs are empty and exposed like a decaying corpse which embalming has not preserved. See then how the people forsake it, cutting off its branches to throw them in the fire.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“O kadar uzun zamandır dünyayı dolaşıyorum ki kimse bana adımla hitap etmedi. Kimsenin bana seslendiğini duymadım. Kafam düşler ve düşüncelerle dolu olduğu için de adımı unuttum.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“What could not be doubted is that Death is neither painful nor terrifying, as mortals imagine. If they knew the truth about it, they would seek it out as they do well-aged wine, preferring it over all others. For it is not regret or sadness that grips the dying person. Rather, life appears as something paltry and unimportant when one intuits on the horizon that divine and joyous light. I was shackled with fetters, then they were smashed. I was trapped inside a vessel, then I was set free. I was intensely heavy on the earth, then I shed my bonds and was rid of my weight. My form was narrow, then I stretched everywhere outward without any bounds. My senses were limited, then each faculty changed utterly; I could see all and I could hear all and I could comprehend all, and I could perceive all at once what was above me and below me and around me—as if I had left my body sprawled before me to take from Creation an entirely new one.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“The sun was slanting toward the western horizon, the endless expanse of the realm of shadows. The flickerings of its fading rays shook with the shiver of Death upon the surface of the sacred Nile.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“Life mocked at my sorrows; the love of it freed me from the malaise of pain and despair.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“The stories about him proliferated for quite a long time. But eventually, the tongues grew tired of them, consigning them to the tombs of oblivion under the rubble of time.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“We had gone but a few steps when we could hear the sounds of a great uproar— and a group of the servants cut across our path. We saw that they were holding a Sa‘idi man, an Upper Egyptian, by his collar, giving him a sound beating with their fists. They dragged him roughly up to the Pasha, and one of them said, “Your Excellency, we caught this thief stealing Beamish’s food.”
I knew Beamish quite well—he was the Pasha’s beloved dog, the most precious creature of God to his heart after his wife and children. He lived a spoiled and honored life in the Pasha’s palace—attended by the staff and servants, and visited by a veterinarian once every month. Each day he was presented with meat, bones, milk, and broth—this wasn’t the first time that the Sa‘idis had pounced on Beamish’s lunch.
The thief was an unmixed Upper Egyptian, marked by the looks of the ancients themselves. It was clear from his dress that he was wretchedly poor. The Pasha fixed him with a vicious stare, interrogating him gruffly, “Whatever induced you to violate the sanctity of my home?”
The man replied in fervent entreaty, panting from his efforts to fight off the servants, “I was starving, Your Excellency, when I saw the cooked meat scattered on the grass. My resistance failed me—I haven’t tasted meat since the Feast of the Sacrifice!”
Turning to me, the Pasha exclaimed, “Do you see the difference between your unfortunates and ours? Your poor are propelled by hunger into stealing baguettes, while ours will settle for nothing less than cooked meat.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“The love of that which he has created is the Creator’s satisfaction.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“Disease is a sneak attack on the refuge of our well-being. Those others care only about its symptoms. I have examined this very carefully, and discovered that the stomach is the basis of the malaise in this region. I found many that could not fill its gaping emptiness, so that they howl from hunger. At the same time, others are not only not empty, but consume greedily all that they wish. And from the mutual attraction and revulsion of these two stomachs comes looting, pillage, and murder. So the disease is clear—and the treatment is clear, as well.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

“There is no reality in the world except for change.”
― Naguib Mahfouz, Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales