#iv

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. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#because #change #conservative #crimes #culture

When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#becomes #excessively #finest #painful #remedy

The acceptance that all that is solid has melted into the air, that reality and morality are not givens but imperfect human constructs, is the point from which fiction begins. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#air #begins #constructs #fiction #givens

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

— Salman Rushdie

#deficient #deserve #let us #lives #many

Rock and roll music - the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#defense #freedom #frightens #manner #mechanisms

The accidents of my life have given me the ability to make stories in which different parts of the world are brought together, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes in conflict, and sometimes both - usually both. The difficulty in these stories is that if you write about everywhere you can end up writing about nowhere. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#about #accidents #both #brought #conflict

The only way of living in a free society is to feel that you have the right to say and do stuff. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#free #free society #living #only #right

The only way to find out why someone decides to engage in armed combat is to look at their individual personality. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#combat #decides #engage #find #individual

A race is what zoologists term a variety or subdivision of a species. ↗

— J. Philippe Rushton

#species #subdivision #term #variety

But with each passing year and each new study, the evidence for the genetic contribution to individual and group differences becomes more firmly established than ever. ↗

— J. Philippe Rushton

#contribution #differences #each #established #ever