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.

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

By: Salman Rushdie

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Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings... view

By: Salman Rushdie

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Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours... view

By: Salman Rushdie

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I used to say, 'There is a God-shaped hole in me.' For a long time I stressed the absence, the hole. Now I find it is the shape which has become more important... view

By: Salman Rushdie

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Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit... view

By: Salman Rushdie

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

By: Salman Rushdie

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

By: Salman Rushdie

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I hate admitting that my enemies have a point... view

By: Salman Rushdie

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

By: Salman Rushdie

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

By: Salman Rushdie

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Books choose their authors.. view

By: Salman Rushdie

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