When I was writing The Satanic Verses, if you had asked me about the phenomenon that we all now know as radical Islam, I wouldn't have had much to say. As recently as the mid-1980s, it didn't seem to be a big deal.

If you actually want to change your world, there is a better way of doing it than blowing yourself up.

I'm not a very big fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire.' I think it's visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing.

Once you put a thought into the world, it can be disagreed with, but it can't be unthought.

And so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.

The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.

That's the trouble with you sad-city types: a place has to be miserable and dull as ditchwater before you believe it's real.