The importance of poetry is not measured, finally, by what the poet says but by how he says it. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
I am not a lover of Israel, of course. I have no reason to be. But I don’t hate Jews. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
Sometimes I feel as if I am read before I write. When I write a poem about my mother, Palestinians think my mother is a symbol for Palestine. But I write as a poet, and my mother is my mother. She’s not a symbol. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
When a writer declares that his first book is his best, that is bad. I progress successively from book to book. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
For the Arabs in Israel there is always a tension between nationality and identity. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
Some people ask, ‘How do you attract the young and so many different people when your poetry is complicated and different?’ I say, ‘My accomplishment is that my readers trust me and accept my suggestions for change.’ Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
To be under occupation, to be under siege, is not a good inspiration for poetry. Mahmoud Darwish Read Quote
