But I - and I just think it's very - one of the problems of defending the extraordinary principle of freedom of speech is that you have to defend freedom of speech for people like that too.

This may be the curse of human race . Not that we are different from one anther , but we are so alike .

Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms.

Look at history. It's not the account of a species at peace.

All art began as sacred art, you know? I mean, all painting began as religious painting. All writing began as religious writing.

With death comes honesty.

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.