My father decided that he was such a admirer of Ibn Rushd's philosophy, thinking that he changed the family name to Rushdie. I realized why my father was so interested in him, because he was really an incredibly modernizing voice inside our Islamic culture.

The whole story of migration and what that has done in interconnecting the planet is obviously something I've written about a lot.

In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.

You can't have modern states based on ideas which have been out of date for a thousand years.

Exile is a dream of a glorious return. Exile is a vision of revolution: Elba, not St Helena. It is an endless paradox: looking forward by always looking back. The exile is a ball hurled high into the air.

I have always thought, the secret purpose of the book tour is to make the writer hate the book he's written. And, as a result, drive him to write another book.

I will come back to India - so deal with it.