One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting. Salman Rushdie More Quotes by Salman Rushdie More Quotes From Salman Rushdie We are the storytelling animal. Salman Rushdie storytelling animal What kind of Christmas present would Jesus ask Santa for? Salman Rushdie santa christmas jesus Captain Ahab drowned, he reminded himself; it was the trimmer, Ishmael, who survived. Salman Rushdie ishmael ahab captains Unless, of course, there's no such thing as chance;...in which case, we should either-optimistically-get up and cheer, because if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning and are spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a why; or else, of course, we might-as pessimists-give up right here and now, understanding the futility of thought decision action, since nothing we think makes any difference anyway, things will be as they will. Where, then, is optimism? In fate or in chaos? Salman Rushdie fate giving-up cheer One of the strange things about violent and authoritarian regimes is they don't like the glare of negative publicity. Salman Rushdie publicity strange negative It matters, it always matters, to name rubbish as rubbish; that to do otherwise is to legitimize it. Salman Rushdie rubbish matter names Reality is a question of perspective. Salman Rushdie perspective reality Ignorantly is how we all fall in love; for it is a kind of fall. Closing our eyes, we leap from that cliff in hope of a soft landing. Nor is it always soft; but still, without that leap nobody comes to life. Salman Rushdie eye love fall Our lives, our stories, flowed into one another's, were no longer our own, individual, discrete. Salman Rushdie our-lives individual stories 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 voice literature talking The lessons one learns at school are not always the ones the school thinks it's teaching. Salman Rushdie teaching school thinking If you take a look at history, you will find that the understanding of what is good and evil has always existed before the individual religions. The religions were only invented by people afterwards, in order to express this idea. Salman Rushdie order people ideas I write books I'd enjoy reading, I'm the reader standing behind my shoulder. Salman Rushdie reading writing book Once you put a thought into the world, it can be disagreed with, but it can't be unthought. Salman Rushdie world I think if we wish to live in any kind of a moral universe, we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for the violence they perpetrate. It's very simple. The criminal is responsible for the crime. Salman Rushdie simple wish thinking He knew what he knew: that the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real. Salman Rushdie magic real world In the waking dreams our societies permit, in our myths, our arts, our songs, we celebrate the nonbelongers, the different ones, the outlaws, the freaks. Salman Rushdie dream song art The mistake of the West was to put the Sauds on the throne of Saudi Arabia and give them control of the world's oil fortune, which they then used to propagate Wahhabi Islam. Salman Rushdie oil mistake giving In spite of all evidence that life is discontinuous, a valley of rifts, and that random chance plays a great part in our fates, we go on believing in the continuity of things, in causation and meaning. But we live on a broken mirror, and fresh cracks appear in its surface every day. Salman Rushdie fate play believe Too many people spouting too many words, and in the end those words will turn to bullets and stones. Salman Rushdie bullets stones people
