---
title: "2 Arena Quotes By Salman Rushdie"
description: "2 Arena quotes by Salman Rushdie. Plus more from Salman Rushdie and more Arena sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/359/salman-rushdie-153_absolute-freedom_literature-is-the-one-place-in-any-socie_388200.jpg"
---

> [Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everythingin every possible way. The reason for ensuring that that privileged arena is preserved is not that writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/literature-is-the-one-place-in-any-society-where-within-the-secrecy-2/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/359/salman-rushdie-153_absolute-freedom_literature-is-the-one-place-in-any-socie_388200.jpg)

> [The only privilege literature deserves - and this privilege it requires in order to exist - is the privilege of being in the arena of discourse, the place where the struggle of our languages can be acted out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-only-privilege-literature-deserves-and-this-privilege-it-requires/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/salman-rushdie-153_arena_the-only-privilege-literature-deserves-a_781847.jpg)

## Other authors on Arena

## More by Salman Rushdie

> [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [It's a terrible thing that your life turns into a good story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/it-s-a-terrible-thing-that-your-life-turns-into-a-good-story/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [I want to write novels. I want to write stories. I want to do the stuff that I became a writer to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-want-to-write-novels-i-want-to-write-stories-i-want-to-do-the-stuff/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [If you want to be a serious writer, then you have to write what there is to write about. If you're going to pull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-you-want-to-be-a-serious-writer-then-you-have-to-write-what-there/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [“Después de exigir mi marcha, ya no posees jurisdicción en lo concerniente a mi salud.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/despu-s-de-exigir-mi-marcha-ya-no-posees-jurisdicci-n-en-lo/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [If there is a choice between absolute safety and freedom, then freedom must always prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-there-is-a-choice-between-absolute-safety-and-freedom-then-freedom/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [I'm not a prophet, but I always thought it was natural for dictatorships to fall. I remember in 1989, two months before the fall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-not-a-prophet-but-i-always-thought-it-was-natural-for/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [I'd wanted to create a storm so that I could become more famous and richer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-d-wanted-to-create-a-storm-so-that-i-could-become-more-famous-and/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/who-what-am-i-my-answer-i-am-the-sum-total-of-everything-that-went/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [“...proving once again that there was no escape from recurrence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/proving-once-again-that-there-was-no-escape-from-recurrence/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [“information, in a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy that revealed the extent to which he had internalised the adversarial fragmentation of American culture and made it a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/information-in-a-stream-of-consciousness-soliloquy-that-revealed-the/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another, and hey presto, . . . not old tales but new ones.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/a-little-bit-of-one-story-joins-onto-an-idea-from-another-and-hey/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [I'm a novelist. Fortunately I don't have to rule the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-a-novelist-fortunately-i-don-t-have-to-rule-the-world/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

> [The First Amendment defends all forms of speech including hate speech, which is why groups like Ku Klux Klan are allowed to utter their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-first-amendment-defends-all-forms-of-speech-including-hate-speech/)

[Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/)

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