Salman Rushdie Quotes


Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart. Salman Rushdie Books 210
Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts. Salman Rushdie Storytelling 164
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return. Salman Rushdie Reading 153
Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. Salman Rushdie Speech 128
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 freedoms existence. Salman Rushdie Censorship 108
A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another and hey presto . . . not old tales but new ones. Nothing comes from nothing. Salman Rushdie Creation 93
Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. Salman Rushdie Authors 92
The liveliness of literature lies in its exceptionality, in being the individual, idiosyncratic vision of one human being, in which, to our delight and great surprise, we may find our own vision reflected. Salman Rushdie Books 91
No people whose word for yesterday is the same as their word for tomorrow can be said to have a firm grip on the time. Salman Rushdie India 89
Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way. Salman Rushdie Books 87
One minute youve got a lucky star watching over you and the next instant its done a bunk. Salman Rushdie Fate 85
There is a widespread difficulty in the Muslim world, which has to do with how the people are taught about examining their own history. A whole range of stuff has been placed off limits. Salman Rushdie History 84
It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it. Salman Rushdie Book 82
Whores and writers Mahound. We are the people you cant forgive. Salman Rushdie Writers 80
I hate admitting that my enemies have a point. Salman Rushdie Admitting 76
Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings. Salman Rushdie History 74
Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence. Salman Rushdie Absence 73
What kind of Christmas present would Jesus ask Santa for Salman Rushdie Jesus 68
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. Salman Rushdie Poetry 66
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems --but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems incredible. Salman Rushdie Reality 65
Dont you know girls have to fool people every day of their lives if they want to get anywhere Salman Rushdie Girls 64
We must conclude that it is not only a particular political ideology that has failed, but the idea that men and women could ever define themselves in terms that exclude their spiritual needs. Salman Rushdie Communism 64
OK publishing a book and releasing a movie is all very well but Tottenham beating Man. U. 32... priceless. Salman Rushdie Film 61
Such is the miraculous nature of the future of exiles: what is first uttered in the impotence of an overheated apartment becomes the fate of nations. Salman Rushdie Nature 60
In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes from history, from hullabaloo, from terrible, unquiet fuss. Salman Rushdie History 57
Our lives our stories flowed into one anothers were no longer our own individual discrete. Salman Rushdie Stories 56
The novel does not seek to establish a privileged language but it insists upon the freedom to portray and analyze the struggle between the different contestants for such privileges. Salman Rushdie Authors 54
perhaps if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes one must make oneself grotesque. Salman Rushdie Individualism 54
Sometimes we feel we straddle two cultures at other times that we fall between two stools. Salman Rushdie Culture 53
The only privilege literature deserves -- and this privilege it requires in order to exist -- is the privilege of being in the arena of discourse, the place where the struggle of our languages can be acted out. Salman Rushdie Books 53
Rock and roll music – the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms. Salman Rushdie Uncategorized 52
Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their own images; they fight for the same territory. Salman Rushdie Authors 52
One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable. Salman Rushdie Humanity 51
When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy. Salman Rushdie Thought 48
The only way of living in a free society is to feel that you have the right to say and do stuff. Salman Rushdie Society 47
Only the foolish blinded by languages conventions think of fire as red or gold. Fire is blue at its melancholy rim green in its envious heart. It may burn white or even in its greatest rages black. Salman Rushdie Fiction 46
Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy. Salman Rushdie Blasphemy 46
Our lives teach us who we are. Salman Rushdie Identity 45
I do not need the idea of God to explain the world I live in. Salman Rushdie God 44
What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power can easily destroy. Salman Rushdie Destroy 44
So Indias problem turns out to be the worlds problem. What happened in India has happened in Gods name. The problems name is God. Salman Rushdie India 44
Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business thats what. Salman Rushdie Ghosts 44
A poets work . . . to name the unnamable to point at frauds to take sides start arguments shape the world and stop it from going to sleep. Salman Rushdie Poets 43
How do you defeat terrorism Dont be terrorized. Salman Rushdie Terrorism 41
I make no complaint. I am a writer. I do not accept my condition; I will strive to change it; but I inhabit it, I am trying to learn from it. Salman Rushdie Authors 41
Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall. Salman Rushdie Fear 41
A book is not completed till its read. Salman Rushdie On writing 41
It may be argued that the past is a country from which we have all emigrated that its loss is part of our common humanity. Salman Rushdie Past 40
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. Salman Rushdie Authors 38
I used to say: there is a God-shaped hole in me. For a long time I stressed the absence, the hole. Now I find it is the shape which has become more important. Salman Rushdie Religion 38

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