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.

Quote by Salman Rushdie

Topics: Salman Rushdie Quotes

In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes from history, from...

In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes from history, from...

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.

Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their...

Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their...

Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total...

Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total...

I hate admitting that my enemies have a point.

I hate admitting that my enemies have a point.

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides,...

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides,...

If Woody Allen were a Muslim, he'd be dead by now.

If Woody Allen were a Muslim, he'd be dead by now.

Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious...

Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious...

Whores and writers, Mahound. We are the people you can't forgive.

Whores and writers, Mahound. We are the people you can't forgive.

Our lives teach us who we are.

Our lives teach us who we are.

Our lives are not what we deserve; they are, let us agree, in many ways...

Our lives are not what we deserve; they are, let us agree, in many ways...

Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the...

Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the...

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore...

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore...

Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence.

Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence.

Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall.

Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall.

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

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

What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power...

What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power...

Writers will happen in the best of families.

Writers will happen in the best of families.

Literature boils with the madcap careers of writers brought to the edge by the demands...

Literature boils with the madcap careers of writers brought to the edge by the demands...

The last motive in the world for acquiring vocabulary should be to impress. Words should...

The last motive in the world for acquiring vocabulary should be to impress. Words should...