You don't fight radical conservatism with not-quite-so radical conservatism.

Well, we're still in the middle of it. And it doesn't show any sign of going away. And these attacks that were - that seemed so odd at the time, with "Satanic Verses," because we didn't have any context for this. You know, where did that come from? It seemed to come out of nowhere.

I don't like books that play to the gallery, but I've become more concerned with telling a story as clearly and engagingly as I can.

One of the things a writer is for is to say the unsayable, speak the unspeakable and ask difficult questions.

What's the use of stories that aren't even true?

Freedom is not a tea party, India. Freedom is a war.

The lessons one learns at school are not always the ones the school thinks it's teaching.