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Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie Quotes

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Famous Salman Rushdie Quotes

“They lived in a great city, a metropolis of many narratives that converged briefly and then separated for ever, discovering their different dooms in that crowd of stories through which all of us, following our own destinies, had to push and shove to find our way through, or out.”

WayDifferentStoriesCitiesDestinyCrowdsFollowingNarrativeDiscoveringDoomGreat CitiesMetropolis
Book:The Ground Beneath Her Feet: A Novel
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“My parents gave me the gift of irreligion, of growing up without bothering to ask people what gods they held dear, assuming that in fact, like my parents, they weren't interested in gods, and that this uninterest was 'normal.' You may argue that the gift was a poisoned chalice, but even if so, that's a cup from which I'd happily drink again.”

PeopleIfsMayFactsAsksParentGrowing UpGrowingDrinkNormalAssumingDearArguingCupsBotherChaliceIrreligion
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“we look up and we hope the stars look down, we pray that there may be stars for us to follow, stars moving across the heavens and leading us to our destiny, but it's only our vanity. We look at the galaxy and fall in love, but the universe cares less about us than we do about it, and the stars stay in their courses however much we may wish upon them to do otherwise. It's true that if you watch the sky-wheel turn for a while you'll see a meteor fall, flame and die. That's not a star worth following; it's just an unlucky rock. Our fates are here on earth. There are no guiding stars.”

IfsLooksMayCareEarthMovingDiesTurnsFallUniverseCoursesHeavenWishStarsWatchesDestinyFateSkyRocksPrayingFalling In LoveFollowingVanityFlamesWheelsLook UpGalaxyOur DestinyUnluckyMeteorsGuiding Stars
Book:The Moor's last sigh
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“Abraham Zogoiby covered his face that night in August 1939 because he had been assailed by fear, [...] a sudden apprehension that the ugliness of life might defeat its beauty; that love did not make lovers invulnerable. Nevertheless, he thought, even if the world's beauty and love were on the edge of destruction, theirs would still be the only side to be on; defeated love would still be love, hate's victory would not make it other than it was.”

IfsWorldStillsMightFacesNightHateSidesLoversVictoryDestructionAnd LoveDefeatEdgesCoveredNeverthelessDefeatedUglinessAbrahamAugustLove HateApprehensionBeauty And Love
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“I had become a kind of information magpie, gathering to myself all manner of shiny scraps of fact and hokum and books and art-history and politics and music and film, and developing, too, a certain skill in manipulating and arranging these pitiful shards so that they glittered and caught the light. Fool's gold, or priceless nuggets mined from my singular childhood's rich bohemian seam? I leave it to others to decide.”

KindArtBookFactsLightFilmCertainRichChildhoodInformationFoolSkillsGoldCaughtDevelopingGatheringPricelessScrapPitifulArt HistoryArrangingBohemianNuggetsMagpies
Book:The Moor's last sigh
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“Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body was like that. If you watched it carefully enough you could see how it moved to the rhythm of the world, the deep rhythm, the music below the music, the truth below the truth. He believed in this hidden truth the way other men believed in God or love, believed that truth was in fact always hidden, that the apparent, the overt, was invariably a kind of lie.”

IfsMenWorldWayKindSometimesEnoughFactsBodyLyingWaterBedFlowMovedTinyRhythmStreamsBounceWomen's BodiesWoodlandHidden Truth
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“All migrants leave their pasts behind, although some try to pack it into bundles and boxes-but on the journey something seeps out of the treasured mementoes and old photographs, until even their owners fail to recognize them, because it is the fate of migrants to be stripped of history, to stand naked amidst the scorn of strangers upon whom they see rich clothing, the brocades of continuity and the eyebrows of belonging.”

TryingPastBehindsRichFateFailingJourneyPhotographBoxesStrangerNakedOwnersBelongingClothingsPacksScornEyebrowsContinuityBundlesMigrantsTreasuredOld Photographs
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“How to forgive the world for its beauty, which merely disguises its ugliness; for its gentleness, which merely cloaks its cruelty; for its illusion of continuity, seamlessly, as the night follows the day, so to speak- whereas in reality life is a series of brutal raptures, falling upon your defenseless hands, like the blows of a woodman's axe?”

WorldLifeHandsRealityLife IsNightFallSpeakIllusionForgivingSeriesBlowCrueltyBrutalDisguiseGentlenessUglinessContinuityRaptureCloaksDefenselessHow To Forgive
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“Unless, of course, there's no such thing as chance;...in which case, we should either-optimistically-get up and cheer, because if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning and are spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a why; or else, of course, we might-as pessimists-give up right here and now, understanding the futility of thought decision action, since nothing we think makes any difference anyway, things will be as they will. Where, then, is optimism? In fate or in chaos?”

IfsThinkingGivingShouldMightActionCoursesUnderstandingDifferencesChanceDecisionCasesKnowingFateGiving UpOptimismChaosTerrorGet UpCheerHere And NowPessimistFutility
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“Everest silences you...when you come down, nothing seems worth saying, nothing at all. You find the nothingness wrapping you up, like a sound. Non-being. You can't keep it up, of course. the world rushes in soon enough. What shuts you up is, I think, the sight you've had of perfection: why speak if you can't manage perfect thoughts, perfect sentences? It feels like a betrayal of what you've been through. But it fades; you accept that certain compromises, closures, are required if you're to continue.”

IfsThinkingWorldFeelsEnoughSeemsCertainCoursesSpeakSoundPerfectSilenceAcceptingPerfectionSightBetrayalSentencesManageCompromiseFadesNothingnessClosureEverestWrappingSoon EnoughSaying Nothing
Author:Salman Rushdie
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“Our human tragedy is that we are unable to comprehend our experience, it slips through our fingers, we can't hold on to it, and the more time passes, the harder it gets...My father said that the natural world gave us explanations to compensate for the meanings we could not grasp. The slant of the cold sunlight on a winter pine, the music of water, an oar cutting the lake and the flight of birds, the mountains' nobility , the silence of the silence. We are given life but must accept that it is unattainable and rejoice in what can be held in the eye, the memory, the mind.”

WorldMindHumansSaidEyeFatherGivenWaterNaturalMemoriesSilenceAcceptingCuttingColdMountainBirdHarderTragedyFingersWinterFlightExplanationLakesMore TimeSlipsRejoiceSunlightNobilityNatural WorldTime PassesUnattainableOarGiven Life
Author:Salman Rushdie
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