Salman Rushdie Quotes

"...that witchcraft requires no potions, familiar spirits, or magic wands. Language upon a silver tongue affords enchantment enough."

on Language

"How do you defeat terrorism? Don’t be terrorized."

on Courage

"But great tragedy is universal"

on Philosophy

"The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame."

on Philosophy

"In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes from history, from hullabaloo, from terrible, unquiet fuss."

on History

"A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it or offer your own version in return."

on Writing

"A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second."

on Art

"It is often said by religious people that without its framework, there is no sense of right or wrong. My view is that religion comes after ethics."

on Ethics

"I never thought of myself as a writer about religion until a religion came after me."

on Writing

"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."

on Writing

"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."

on Freedom

"History is unkind to those it abandons, and can be equally unkind to those who make it."

on History

"‎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."

on Time

"Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts."

on Philosophy

"From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable."

on Philosophy