كان هذا اليوم أول يوم في شهر أغسطس 1968، وأول يوم أرى فيه بورسعيد بالعين، قلبي هو الذي كان يعرفها من قبل..
That day was the first of August 1968, and the first day I saw Port Said with my eyes; it was my heart that had known her before.
From the novel Port Said 68 · Chapter 3
Words of a narrator or a character belong to the novel's world, not to the author's personal views.
Port Said 68
Port Said 68وكان الموتُ أقوى منها، فعلَى مَنْ تثور؟ على شهيدٍ عند الله! أم على ابنةٍ انقصمَ ظهرُها.. تقبَّلت..
And death was stronger than she was; against whom could she rage? Against a martyr with God? Or against a daughter whose back was broken? She accepted.
Port Said 68حقَّك عليَّه يا باشا، بس دي بورسعيد أمِّي وأبويا وشرفي.
Forgive me, Pasha, but this is Port Said: my mother, my father and my honour.
Port Said 68البحر بطُولِه وعرضِه والعمق كوكبٌ هو الآخر.. لا تفيه كلمة ولا عبارة أو كتاب كله شرح.. واعرٌ، مالحٌ، غويط، وقلبُه كقطعة الحديد لا رحمة يعرفها ولا رفق، وإن خُضتَ فيه وهو معتلُّ المِزاج يفتك بك، فلا أمان له حتى وهو مبتسم لطيف أو وهو ناعس مغمض العينين..
The sea, in its length and breadth and depth, is a planet of its own. No word, no phrase, no book of pure explanation can do it justice. Rugged, salt, deep, its heart a lump of iron that knows neither mercy nor gentleness; wade into it when its mood is bad and it will tear you apart, and there is no trusting it even when it smiles kindly or dozes with its eyes shut.