Morocco Quotes

On traveling through Morocco with a guide and sleeping in tents: "They knew that I am Israeli, and yet they still opened the doors of their houses for me, offering me tea. They all were nice and hospitable."

(Morocco) "When I finished V for Vendetta (2005), I went for a few days as sort of a birthday present for myself. I went out into the desert and an amazing storm was taking place, which is so unusual in the desert. I ended up in a tent with the six strangers whom I had just met, and had traveled with earlier on camel back. There we were, watching this amazing lightening in the middle of the desert. The tent was shaking and it was a really exciting experience."

(On filming the Iraqi war film Stop-Loss (2008) in Morocco): You felt like a monster. We were there in full gear, with these assault rifles, on what`s akin to their Christmas. We were barging into peoples` actual homes to shoot those scenes. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and ashamed at the time.

At one point I was doing theater in San Francisco and actually living in the theater. I was broke. I was boxing - working out in a gym - and this trainer got me into the union. He started putting all the guys in his stable into the union. So I started making money, stopped acting and saved, to get to Europe. I kept moving around. Three years later I started acting again, because acting drove me. But I was still restless. I studied acting in New York for only six months before I wanted to get a ship for Europe. I`d heard that in Brooklyn you could get into the Scandinavian maritime union and get a ship without having papers. Wound up in Florida, then New Orleans, then Houston. I eventually came to California, worked in a bowling alley as a short-order cook. I drifted, picked tomatoes and beans and lived in labor camps in Ventura County. I wound up in Big Sur. I just kept moving. I went to Ketchikan, Alaska, lived with the Indians in stilt houses, worked in a lumber mill. And I still knew I would get back into acting. Eventually I traveled to Yugoslavia on a freighter, then went to Valencia, Spain and then on to Tangier. I spent three months in Morocco. I wound up in Rome - and finally started acting. - On his life before acting.

(While in Morocco,) Michael J. Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and The Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book `The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.` For me, it summed him up. He had this tremendous rebel attitude. He walked around in his cowboy boots, his leather jacket. At the time he was a heavy little dude. It seemed to sum up all the people of that generation who were just rebels. The `Low Spark,` for me, was the spirit, high-spirited. You know, standing on a street corner. The low rider. The `Low Spark` meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level.

I already loved Orlando like a little brother before we started shooting. We did spend five months together in Morocco during "Black Hawk Down". And you have to take care of Orlando. He doesn`t even know how to make coffee. (Starts imitating Orlando`s voice) Do you want coffee, Eric? How is it done again? Do you put the coffee in the water? Or in the filter? Can you make the coffee, Eric?

But I will agree that I think that things happen with people in relationships, that you might have been able to enjoy Morocco, say, if you weren`t getting out of a bad marriage. You know what I mean?

I never got hurt when I was in Morocco doing all the horse riding and my own stunts. But on the last day on the last shot I slid off my horse and landed on my bottom. I did not get hurt but it was very embarrassing.

The most interesting guy I`ve ever played with was King Hassan of Morocco. I went over there on a trip in the early 1970s, and the King and I played five holes. I`ve never been that nervous in my life.

There are pockets of great food in Spain, but there are also pockets of very mediocre food in Spain, and the same in Morocco and the same in Croatia and the same in Germany and the same in Austria.

Morocco is among one of the very first countries that we have decided that we are going to sit down with and negotiate a Free Trade Agreement.

I am going to be announcing today that we will have a business delegation come to this country sometime in the future where we will bring businesses from America to Morocco to show them the vast business opportunities here.

At the very outset I want to say how the people of America appreciate the steadfast support of the people of Morocco, the leadership of Morocco in our war against terrorism.

All Moroccans are justifiably proud of the development of democratic institutions in Morocco.

You mentioned the Free Trade Agreement and yes I can`t tell you how pleased we are that Morocco is one of the countries that our country is going to begin negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with.

There are opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, so yes back home we are talking about investment opportunities in Morocco for various sectors of our economy and we will continue to do that.

Regarding your first question on the free trade agreement, as I said earlier, we are going to be very sensitive to the needs of Morocco.

The U.S. views Morocco as an important friend, and we applaud your political and economic reforms that culminated with the recent parliamentary elections that were widely reported to have been conducted in a fair and open manner.

I spent my first twenty years in Morocco, where I coached the national team.

My father told me it was not a job, that I wouldn`t make a living at tennis, ... The toughest part was trying to explain to him that I could be the first one from Morocco to do it. But he didn`t want me to play. We didn`t talk for a year. That was when I knew I couldn`t fail. I had to show him it was the right decision. It was a great motivation.

Tennis is simply not affordable to many in the Arab world, ... They should have public courts like they do in the United States and France. One of my dreams is to fill Morocco with public courts and offer practices to kids who cannot afford to belong to clubs or have coaches. But that`s in the future. For now, I am competing. No Arab player has ever won a grand slam event. My dream is to be the first.

Some of the problems we deal with in this industry are the same as in Morocco and Palestine.