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 More Quotes by Salman Rushdie More Quotes From Salman Rushdie What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. Salman Rushdie honestyexpressionintegrity Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, to rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts. Salman Rushdie storytellingstoriesthinking The only people who see the whole picture,' he murmured, 'are the ones who step out of the frame. Salman Rushdie wholestepspeople Perhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin. Salman Rushdie stories Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. 'Respect for religion' has become a code phrase meaning 'fear of religion.' Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect. Salman Rushdie realreligiousart If somebody's trying to shut you up, sing louder, and if possible, better. Salman Rushdie ifstrying To be born again,' sang Gibreal Farishta tumbling from the heaveans, 'first you have to die. Ho ji! Ho ji! To land upon the bosomy earth, first one needs to fly Tat-taa! Takatun! How to ever smile again, if first you won't cry? How to win the darling's love mister, without a sigh? Salman Rushdie landwinningneeds Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true. Salman Rushdie novelistscommunicationcourage For every snake, there is a ladder; for every ladder,a snake Salman Rushdie ladderssnakes We cannot allow religious hooligans to place limiting points on thought. Salman Rushdie religious Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy. Salman Rushdie blasphemybelief Even when things are at their worst, there's a little voice in your head saying, 'Good story!' Salman Rushdie voicestorieslittles God, Satan, Paradise, and Hell all vanished one day in my fifteenth year, when I quite abruptly lost my faith. ... and afterwards, to prove my new-found atheism, I bought myself a rather tasteless ham sandwich, and so partook for the first time of the forbidden flesh of the swine. No thunderbolt arrived to strike me down. ... From that day to this I have thought of myself as a wholly secular person. Salman Rushdie atheismyearsreligion Of course, there is nothing intrinsic linking any religion with any act of violence. The crusades don't prove that Christianity was violent. The Inquisition doesn't prove that Christianity tortures people. But that Christianity did torture people. Salman Rushdie violencechristianitypeople ‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect. Salman Rushdie inspirationallifeideas In an ideal world, you could reunite the Pakistan-occupied part of Kashmir with the Indian-occupied part and restore the old borders. You could have both India and Pakistan agreeing to guarantee those borders, demilitarise the area, and to invest in it economically. In a sane world that would happen, but we don't live in a sane world. Salman Rushdie india-and-pakistankashmirborders Memory has its own special kind. It selects, eliminates, alters, exaggerates, minimizes, glorifies, and vilifies also; but in the end it creates its own reality, its heterogeneous but usually coherent version of events; and no sane human being ever trusts someone else's version more than his own. Salman Rushdie specialmemoriesreality Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves--that go on slipping , like sand, through our fingers. Salman Rushdie starsdreamwriting No, I don't think it's fair to label Islam 'violent.' But I will say that to my knowledge, no writer has ever gone into hiding for criticizing the Amish. Salman Rushdie islamlabelsthinking faith without doubt is addiction Salman Rushdie addictiondoubt
