Vertigo is the conflict between the fear of falling and the desire to fall.

In writing 'The Satanic Verses,' I think I was writing for the first time from the whole of myself. The English part, the Indian part. The part of me that loves London, and the part that longs for Bombay. And at my typewriter, alone, I could indulge this.

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.

Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings.

You don't that often see writers being sought out when there are matters of great moment to discuss. And I think that's a loss.

YouTube is full of pieces of trash. If you want to look on YouTube and find something that insults you, you can probably find it.

Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the twentieth century.