Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.
SALMAN RUSHDIEFree speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.
SALMAN RUSHDIEThe moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.
SALMAN RUSHDIELanguage is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.
SALMAN RUSHDIEI admit it: above all things, I fear absurdity.
SALMAN RUSHDIEWe all owe death a life.
SALMAN RUSHDIEWhat is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
SALMAN RUSHDIELiterature 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 RUSHDIEI write books I’d enjoy reading, I’m the reader standing behind my shoulder.
SALMAN RUSHDIEPerhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin.
SALMAN RUSHDIENo, 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 RUSHDIEBetween the adored and the adorer falls the shadow.
SALMAN RUSHDIELiterature 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 RUSHDIEWhat I do think is evident is that those countries in the world where Islamic extremism has recovered the most power, those are also the countries which are most disliked.
SALMAN RUSHDIEI stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire.
SALMAN RUSHDIEWe are the storytelling animal.
SALMAN RUSHDIEI 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