Quotes from Salman Rushdie

Life damages the living.

Reason may catnap for a time, but the irrational is more often comatose. In the end it will be the irrational that is forever caged in dreams, while reason gains the day.

a sovereign so rich in pachyderms that he can waste the gnashers of a thousand of the beasts just to decorate me.

Who tonight are the Hindus? Who are the Muslims? Here in Kashmir, our stories sit happily side by side on the same double bill, we eat from the same dishes, we laugh at the same jokes. We will joyfully celebrate the reign of the good king Zain-ul-abidin, and as for our Muslim brothers and sisters, no problem!

When people start talking about a golden age," he said, "they always think a new world has begun which will last forever. But the truth about these so-called golden ages is that they never last very long. A few years, maybe. There's always trouble ahead.

Verhalen zijn niet waar, maar doordat ze onwaar zijn kunnen ze waarheden voelbaar en kenbaar maken die de waarheid niet kan vertellen.

silence, too, has an echo, hollower and longer-lasting than the reverberations of any sound

Don't let the zealots make Muslim a terrifying word. [ 1,000 Days 'Trapped Inside a Metaphor' (Columbia University / The New York Times , December 12, 1991)]

Exilatul nu poate uita - si trebuie, prin urmare, sa simuleze - arsita uscata din Desh, fostul si viitorul lui taram, in care pana si Luna este fierbinte si picura ca niste lipii proaspete, date cu unt. O, cat de dor ii e de acea parte a lumii, unde soarele si luna sunt de genul masculin, dar lumina lor dulce si fierbinte are intotdeauna nume femeiesti!...

Kalbin hatalar?ndan birinin ne büyük ahmakl?k olduÄŸu anla??ld???nda, kendimizi aptal gibi hissederiz ve yak?nlar?m?za, sevdiklerimize bizi neden vakitlice kendimizden kurtarmad?klar?n? sorar?z. Ancak bu, aram?za kimsenin giremeyeceÄŸi bir düÅŸmand?r.

Women have made me; and also unmade. From Reverend Mother to the Widow, and even beyond, I have been at the mercy of the so-called (erroneously, in my opinion!) gentler sex.

Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come.

In ancient times,' Quichotte said, in a last appeal to reason, 'when a woman was accused of witchcraft, the proofs were that she had a familiar, usually a cat, plus a broomstick and a third nipple for the Devil to suck on. But almost all homes had cats and brooms and in those days many people's bodies had warts. Thus the mere accusation, witch!, was all that was required. The proof was in every home and on every woman's body and therefore all women so accused were automatically guilty.

Deha zenginlerin kölesi deÄŸildir.

When you're five and you hurt, you make a big noise unto the world. At ten you whimper. But by the time you make fifteen you begin to eat the poisoned apples that grow on your own inner tree of pain. It's the Western Way of Enlightenment. You begin to cram your fists into your mouth to stifle the screams. You bleed on the inside.

At times of great upheaval when the wind blows and the tide of history surges, cool heads are needed to navigate a path to calmer waters.

It seemed that digression was the true principle of the universe, that the only real subject was the way the subject kept changing.

Apa gunanya dongeng-dongeng itu? Hidup bukanlah sebuah buku cerita atau toko lelucon (hal.18)

Amikor az ember a lehetetlenre vállalkozik, mindennap a halállal utazik, megtisztulásnak, a lélek felemelkedésének fogadja el az utazást, s így az út nem az istenek megnevezése, hanem maga Isten felé tart.

And by that destiny, to perform an act Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come In yours and my discharge.

The life of this alien city was lived under the cathedral dome of the sky. People ate where the birds could share their food and gambled where any cutpurse could steal their winnings, they kissed in full view of strangers and even fucked in the shadows if they wanted to. What did it mean to be a man so completely among men, and women too? When solitude was banished, did one become more oneself, or less? Did the crowd enhance one's selfhood or erase it?

If you start reading a book and you don't like it you always have the option of shutting it. At this point it loses its capacity to offend you.

nicknamed Eyeslice and Hairoil;

Bir ÅŸey tabi hiçbir ÅŸey den çok, çok daha iyidir, yar? memnun geçirdiÄŸimiz ömrün sonunda kar??m?za ç?ksa bile.