146 Salman Rushdie Quotes for You to Enjoy

Salman Rushdie

Indian Novelist

Born: Jun 19, 1947

Life Me People Think World You

Related authors: Charles Dickens Ernest Hemingway Gustave Flaubert James Baldwin John Updike Leo Rosten Paulo Coelho Walter Scott

Airport security exists to guard us against terrorist attacks. Salman Rushdie

Guard Airport Security Attacks Terrorist Exists Against Us

My first novel - the novel I wrote before 'Midnight's Children' - feels, to me, now, very - I mean, I get embarrassed when I see people reading it. You know, there are some people who, bizarrely, like it. Which I'm, you know, I'm happy for. Salman Rushdie

Me You Happy People Some People First Reading Before Embarrassed I See See Some Feels Like Know Wrote Very Get Children Which Midnight Mean Who Novel Now

In general, writers shouldn't be killed for what they write, though I can think of exceptions. Salman Rushdie

Think Though I Can General Write Exceptions Writers

In early Islam, it was an absolute tenet that the prophet was not to be worshipped. The prophet was a messenger. And one of the things that's happened in Islam is this cult of the prophet, which to my view is counter to the original tradition. Salman Rushdie

Islam Worshipped One Of The Things Prophet Absolute Counter Messenger Cult Tradition Happened Which View Original Things Early

Look at history. It's not the account of a species at peace. Salman Rushdie

History Peace Look Account Species

It's true that the human body is more vulnerable than the products of the human mind. Salman Rushdie

Mind More True Vulnerable Than Human Human Body Body Human Mind Products

The difference between memoir and autobiography, as far as I see it, is that a memoir is there primarily to tell one particular story, whereas an autobiography tries to be a full account of a life. Salman Rushdie

Life I See Tell Memoir Tries See Primarily Between Particular Account Autobiography Difference As Far As Whereas Story Far Full

When 'Midnight's Children' came out, people in the West tended to respond to the fantasy elements in the novel, to praise it in those terms. In India, people read it like a history book. Salman Rushdie

History Book People Those Respond Out India Like Terms Read Praise Came West History Book Children Midnight Fantasy Novel Elements

Sometimes when you finish a book, you don't know quite what you've got. Salman Rushdie

You Book Sometimes Finish Know Got Quite

Thomas Pynchon looks exactly like Thomas Pynchon should look. He is tall, he wears lumberjack shirts and blue jeans. He has Albert Einstein white hair and Bugs Bunny front teeth. Salman Rushdie

A novel, I think, is partly about the contemporary and partly about the eternal, and it's the balance of that that's difficult to achieve. Salman Rushdie

Balance Achieve Difficult Think I Think About Contemporary Partly Eternal Novel

Human beings, you see, do absolutely two primary things. We see like and unlike. Like becomes, in literature, simile and metaphor. Unlike becomes uniqueness and difference, from which I believe, the novel is born. Salman Rushdie

I do have a lot of time for people in my life, and friendship is a very important subject for me. I think I'm unusual among the writers I know in that respect. Salman Rushdie

Life Friendship Time Me Respect People My Life Important Think I Think Writers Know Unusual Subject Lot Very Among

If terrorism is to be defeated, the world of Islam must take on board the secularist-humanist principles on which the modern is based, and without which Muslim countries' freedom will remain a distant dream. Salman Rushdie

Freedom Terrorism World Will Islam Distant Muslim Dream Must Remain Take Countries Principles Without Modern Which Board Based Defeated

The West was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution. Salman Rushdie

Government Revolution Involved West Iranian Led Ultimately

I am not in the business of suppressing books. Salman Rushdie

Business I Am Books Suppressing Am

I write books I'd enjoy reading, I'm the reader standing behind my shoulder. Salman Rushdie

Reading Enjoy Books I Write Write Reader Behind Shoulder Standing Enjoy Reading

Self-censorship is a lie to yourself; if you are going to be trying to seriously create art, to create literary art, and you decide to hold back, to censor yourself, then you are a fool to yourself and it would be better that you kept your mouth shut and did not speak. Salman Rushdie

Art You Fool Yourself Lie Speak Better Seriously Mouth Back Would Would-Be Self-Censorship Trying Did Going Censor Hold Literary Decide Then Create Your Shut Kept

You want all your books to stick around after you've gone. Salman Rushdie

You Gone Books Stick Around Want After Your

The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes. Salman Rushdie

Change Culture Conservative Progress Other Crimes Seeks Uncertainty Sacred Simply Idea Ideas Most Because Any Quite Turn Notions

People are always telling me that they've seen people reading my books on the subway, or the beach, or whenever. Salman Rushdie

Me People Seen Reading Books Telling Beach Always Whenever Subway

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