Salman Rushdie

Satanic Verses, magical realism

Contemporary influential 94 sayings

Sayings by Salman Rushdie

Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint.

2006 — Essay, 'The Novel in the World'
Controversial Unverifiable

We are living in an age when the word ‘blasphemy’ has become a weapon.

2012 — Interview with BBC News
Controversial Unverifiable

The biggest problem with censorship is that it creates a climate of fear, and that climate of fear is very bad for creativity.

2013 — Interview with The Sydney Morning Herald
Controversial Unverifiable

The idea of the sacred is one of the most dangerous ideas in human history.

2012 — Interview with The New York Review of Books
Controversial Unverifiable

To attack a book is to attack the human mind.

2012 — Speech at the PEN World Voices Festival
Controversial Unverifiable

The only way to defeat the forces of unreason is with the weapons of reason.

2006 — Interview with The Guardian
Controversial Unverifiable

I’ve learned that the only way to get through life is to laugh at it.

2010 — Interview with The Believer
Controversial Unverifiable

The greatest danger to freedom is the abandonment of reason.

2012 — Speech at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Controversial Unverifiable

The job of the artist is to make trouble.

2012 — Interview with The New Yorker
Controversial Unverifiable

The world is a cacophony of voices, and it's the writer's job to make sense of it.

2015 — Interview with The Wall Street Journal
Controversial Unverifiable

I think that the most important thing a writer can do is to be honest.

2015 — Interview with NPR
Controversial Unverifiable

The human mind is a dangerous place, and that's why we need art.

2015 — Speech at the Brooklyn Book Festival
Controversial Unverifiable

Literature is not a luxury; it is a necessity.

2012 — Speech at the PEN World Voices Festival
Controversial Unverifiable

The only way to fight darkness is with light.

2012 — Interview with The Atlantic
Controversial Unverifiable

To be a writer is to be a messenger from the subconscious.

2017 — Interview with The Guardian
Controversial Unverifiable

The world is a novel, and we are all characters in it.

1988 — Novel, The Satanic Verses
Controversial Unverifiable

I'm interested in the idea of what happens when you cross boundaries, when you break rules.

2019 — Interview with The New York Times
Controversial Unverifiable

The act of writing is an act of faith.

2019 — Speech at the Chicago Humanities Festival
Controversial Unverifiable

The world is becoming more and more polarized, and it's important for writers to speak truth to power.

2019 — Interview with The Irish Times
Controversial Unverifiable

I think that literature is a way of understanding the world, and understanding ourselves.

2020 — Interview with The Times of India
Controversial Unverifiable