It matters, it always matters, to name rubbish as rubbish; that to do otherwise is to legitimize it.
Salman RushdieA novel, I think, is partly about the contemporary and partly about the eternal, and it's the balance of that that's difficult to achieve.
Salman RushdieOne of the things a writer is for is to say the unsayable, speak the unspeakable and ask difficult questions.
Salman RushdieFundamentalists 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.
Salman RushdieOne of the strange things about violent and authoritarian regimes is they don't like the glare of negative publicity. If you can make them sufficiently uncomfortable, they frequently respond by doing what you need them to do in the spirit of setting people free or ceasing arrests, which has worked time and time again with PEN.
Salman Rushdie