He knew what he knew: that the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.

Nobody ever recognizes themselves unless they are not the character. There are many people who have claimed to be in my books, but unfortunately they were usually people that I didn't know.

You can't have modern states based on ideas which have been out of date for a thousand years.

'The Satanic Verses' was denied the ordinary life of a novel. It became something smaller and uglier: an insult.

When you are writing a book, it feels as if you are simply concentrating on the world of the book and that whatever is happening in your personal life is outside the room, as it were. But maybe that's just the way you have to talk to yourself to make it possible.

I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women.

A mature society understands that at the heart of democracy is argument.