faith without doubt is addiction

What happened in Pakistan was that people were told: You're all Muslim, so now you're a country. As we saw in 1971 with the Bangladesh secession, the answer to that was: 'Oh no, we're not.'

One of the things I've thought about 'Midnight's Children' is that it is a novel which puts a Muslim family at the centre of the Indian experience.

Before I came to England, my favorite authors were P. G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie. I used to devour both.

If the creative artist worries if he will still be free tomorrow, then he will not be free today.

Fundamentalists believe that we don't believe in anything. In their view of the world, they are in possession of absolute certainties, while we are descending into decadence. We will be able to triumph over terrorism not by waging war on it, but through a conscious, fearless way of life.

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.