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Exlpore more Tolerance quotes
"The point is, being a Christian does not mean hating or belittling the non-Christians. Being a Muslim does not mean hating or belittling the non-Muslims. Being an Atheist does not mean hating or belittling the religious people. In a civilized society, diversity in religious orientation should be the reason for celebration, not the cause for hatred and differentiation."
"Without demolishing religious schools (madrassahs) and minarets and without abandoning the beliefs and ideas of the medieval age, restriction in thoughts and pains in conscience will not end. Without understanding that unbelief is a kind of religion, and that conservative religious belief a kind of disbelief, and without showing tolerance to opposite ideas, one cannot succeed. Those who look for the truth will accomplish the mission."
"I don't make any pretence of knowing about the existence of a Supreme Entity, neither do I make any attempt to create any friction among religions. If anything, I have spared myself no pains in my endeavor to smoothen the ongoing friction among all religions of the world."
"The Southerner is usually tolerant of those weaknesses that proceed from innocence."
"A religious individual may most gloriously carry out his or her own rituals, as a part of his or her cultural identity, but the moment, that person starts to build a wall of separation between the self and the rest of humanity, coaxed by the textual commands of a scripture, the healthy religiousness turns into dangerous fundamentalism, which is a threat to both the self and the society."
"So if you have to live amongst men, you must allow everyone the right to exist in accordance with the character he has, whatever it turns out to be: and all you should strive to do is to make use of this character in such a way as its kind and nature permit, rather than to hope for any alteration in it, or to condemn it off-hand for what it is. This is the true sense of the maxim--Live and let live. That, however, is a task which is difficult in proportion as it is right; and he is a happy man who can once for all avoid having to do with a great many of his fellow creatures."
"The tolerance power is the mother of egoism!"
Explore more quotes by Naguib Mahfouz
"History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself."
"I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees."
"I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things."
"I started writing while I was a little boy. Maybe it's because I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday. Also, my love for good writing pushed me."
"If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion."
"Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization."
"It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat."
"In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works."
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