Human beings understand themselves and shape their futures by arguing and challenging and questioning and saying the un-sayable, not by bowing the knee whether to gods or to men.

I have had many more close women friends than men, and I've always assumed that comes from the fact that in my family there was such a disproportionate female element.

My first novel - the novel I wrote before 'Midnight's Children' - feels, to me, now, very - I mean, I get embarrassed when I see people reading it. You know, there are some people who, bizarrely, like it. Which I'm, you know, I'm happy for.

[...] the inevitable triumph of illusion over reality that was the single most obvious truth about the history of the human race [...]

In the movies, the writer is just the servant, the employee.

I write books I'd enjoy reading, I'm the reader standing behind my shoulder.

We live in a frightened time, and people self-censor all the time and are afraid of going into some subjects because they are worried about violent reactions.