#me

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. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#become #find #hole #i #important

I was 21 in 1968, so I'm as much a child of the '60s as is possible to be. In those years the subject of religion had really almost disappeared; the idea that religion was going to be a major force in the life of our societies, in the West anyway, would have seemed absurd in 1968. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#almost #anyway #child #disappeared #force

I've never seen anywhere in the world as beautiful as Kashmir. It has something to do with the fact that the valley is very small and the mountains are very big, so you have this miniature countryside surrounded by the Himalayas, and it's just spectacular. And it's true, the people are very beautiful too. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#beautiful #big #countryside #fact #i

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

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

Such is the miraculous nature of the future of exiles: what is first uttered in the impotence of an overheated apartment becomes the fate of nations. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#becomes #exiles #fate #first #future

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 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

The response of anybody interested in liberty is that we all have a say and the ability to have an argument is exactly what liberty is, even though it may never be resolved. In any authoritarian society the possessor of power dictates, and if you try and step outside he will come after you. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#after #any #anybody #argument #authoritarian