Pain, too, comes from depths that cannot be revealed. We do not know whether those depths are in ourselves or elsewhere, in a graveyard, in a scarcel… - Tahar Ben Jelloun

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Pain, too, comes from depths that cannot be revealed. We do not know whether those depths are in ourselves or elsewhere, in a graveyard, in a scarcely dug grave, only recently inhabited by withered flesh. This truth, which is banal enough, unravels time and the face, holds up a mirror to me in which I cannot see myself without being overcome by a profound sadness that undermines one's whole being. The mirror has become the route through which my body reaches that state, in which it is crushed into the ground, digs a temporary grave, and allows itself to be drawn by the living roots that swarm beneath the stones. It is flattened beneath the weight of that immense sadness which few people have the privilege of knowing. So I avoid mirrors.

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About Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بن جلون, romanized: aṭ-Ṭāhir bin Jallūn; born 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan writer who rose to fame for his 1985 novel L'Enfant de sable (The Sand Child).

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Additional quotes by Tahar Ben Jelloun

The secret was there, in those pages, woven out of syllables and images.

But bad manners or vulgar gestures can sometimes have a touch of poetry about them, just enough not to arouse one's indignation.

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I saw some words slowly rise and hit the damp ceiling. There they melted in contact with the stone and fell back on my face as drops of water. It amused me. The ceiling was like a writing table.

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