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Salman Rushdie Quotes - Page 8

All Quotes Age Arguing Art Atheism Atheist Belief Betrayal Birth Blasphemy Censorship Challenges Character Childhood Children Choices Christianity Conflict Country Crime Criticism Culture Desire Destiny Doubt Evil Falling In Love Fate Feelings Fighting Film Free Speech Freedom Freedom Of Speech Fun Giving Growing Up Growth Hate Heart Hell History Home Honesty Human Nature Identity Imagination Islam Journey Language Liberty Life Literature Loss Love Lying Magic Memories Mountain Optimism Past Perception Perspective Pride Prophet Reading Reality Religion Revolution Running Safety Satire School Shame Silence Son Soul Speed Storytelling Struggle Study Terrorism Tolerance Values Victory Violence War Water Worry Writing

We crave permission openly to become our secret selves.

We crave permission openly to become our secret selves.

Self, Secret, Permission

Salman Rushdie (1995). “The Moor's last sigh”

When I was writing The Satanic Verses, if you had asked me about the phenomenon that we all now know as radical Islam, I wouldn't have had much to say. As recently as the mid-1980s, it didn't seem to be a big deal.

Writing, Islam, Satanic

"A translated man". Interview with James Campbell, www.theguardian.com. September 29, 2006.

We are the only animals that tell stories to understand the world we live in.

Animal, Stories, World

What happened in Pakistan was that people were told: You're all Muslim, so now you're a country. As we saw in 1971 with the Bangladesh secession, the answer to that was: 'Oh no, we're not.'

Country, People, Pakistan

One either loves, or waits for love, or banishes love for good. That is the full range of possible choices.

Choices, Waiting, Range

Salman Rushdie (2000). “The Ground Beneath Her Feet”, G K Hall & Company

I'm not saying I am never going to fall in love again, but there is no need to marry.

Falling In Love, Needs, Love Again

"Salman Rushdie: I’ll Never Marry Again". www.huffingtonpost.com. February 3, 2009.

Free societies...are societies in motion, and with motion comes tension, dissent, friction. Free people strike sparks, and those sparks are the best evidence of freedom's existence.

People, Atheism, Society

Whenever someone who knows you disappears, you lose one version of yourself. Yourself as you were seen, as you were judged to be. Lover or enemy, mother or friend, those who know us construct us, and their several knowings slant the different facets of our characters like diamond-cutter's tools. Each such loss is a step leading to the grave, where all versions blend and end.

Friends, Mother, Character

"The Ground Beneath Her Feet". Book by Salman Rushdie, April, 1999.

The publishing of a book is a worldwide event. The attempt to suppress a book is a worldwide event.

Book, Events, Publishing

What's the use of stories that aren't even true?

Stories, Use

Salman Rushdie (2014). “Haroun Aur Sagar Kisson Ka: (Hindi Edition)”, Random House India

Have you noticed the physical resemblance between Imran Khan and Gaddafi? If you were making a movie of the life of Gaddafi and you wanted a slightly better-looking version of Gaddafi, you might cast Imran Khan.

Might, Gaddafi, Casts

The miniatures of the Mughal period are really the pinnacle of Indian artistic achievement. And not a single one of those paintings is done by an individual artist.

Artist, Achievement, Done

"Salman Rushdie Spins a Yarn". Interview with James Mustich, www.barnesandnoble.com. June 2, 2008.

The Muslim population in India is, largely speaking, not radicalised. From the beginning, they were always very secular-minded.

India, Population, Secular

"How to Understand Kashmir and Survive the Jihadis: An Interview with Sir Salman Rushdie". Interview with Johann Hari, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 8, 2009.

People must be protected from prejudice against their person. But people cannot be protected from prejudice against their ideas - because otherwise we're all done.

Ideas, People, Prejudice

The acceptance that all that is solid has melted into the air, that reality and morality are not givens but imperfect human constructs, is the point from which fiction begins.

Acceptance, Reality, Air

Salman Rushdie (1990). “Is nothing sacred?”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their own images; they fight for the same territory.

Writing, Fighting, Trying

The West sees Iran as an important force in the gulf.

Iran, Important, West

The people suffering most from the Taliban were Afghans.

People, Suffering, Taliban

I am certainly not a good Muslim. But I am able now to say that I am Muslim; in fact it is a source of happiness to say that I am now inside, and a part of the community whose values have always been closest to my heart.

Heart, Community, Able

In the end, you write the book that grabs you by the throat and demands to be written.

Book, Writing, Demand

You can't judge an internal injury by the size of the hole.

Judging, Size, Injury

Salman Rushdie (1989). “The Satanic Verses”, New York, N.Y. : Viking

Cruelty is not a literary value.

Cruelty, Values

In Iran, fundamentalism was fuelled to an extent by the regime of the Shah being supported by the West.

Iran, West, Regimes

It is commonly and, I believe, accurately said of Pakistan that her women are much more impressive than her men.

Believe, Men, Pakistan

"Shame". Book by Salman Rushdie, 1983.

If I were asked for a one-sentence sound bite on religion, I would say I was against it.

Religion, Sound, One Sentence

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