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“...for those who value stability, who fear transience, uncertainty, change, have erected a powerful system of stigmas and taboos against rootlessness, that disruptive, anti-social force, so that we mostly conform, we pretend to be motivated by loyalties and solidarities we do not really feel, we…” quote by Salman Rushdie
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““...for those who value stability, who fear transience, uncertainty, change, have erected a powerful system of stigmas and taboos against rootlessness, that disruptive, anti-social force, so that we mostly conform, we pretend to be motivated by loyalties and solidarities we do not really feel, we hide our secret identities beneath the false skins of those identities which bear the belongers' seal of approval. But the truth leaks out in our dreams; alone in our beds (because we are all alone at night, even if we do not sleep by ourselves), we soar, we fly, we flee. And in the waking dreams our societies permit, in our myths, our arts, our songs, we celbrate the non-belongers, the different ones, the outlaws, the freaks. What we forbid ourselves we pay good money to watch, in a playhouse or movie theatre, or to read about between the secret covers of a book. Our libraries, our palaces of entertainment tell the truth. The tramp, the assassin, the rebel, the thief, the mutant, the outcast, the delinquent, the devil, the sinner, the traveller, the gangster, the runner, the mask: if we did not recognize in them our least-fulfilled needs, we would not invent them over and over again, in every place, in every language, in every time.””

Salman Rushdie

About This Quote

Source Novel: Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie, 1981

Society creates stigmas to suppress the desire for rootlessness, but humans secretly crave freedom and nonconformity, expressing it through dreams, art, and marginalized figures.

In simple terms: People hide true desires behind accepted identities, yet their dreams reveal a longing for freedom.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and honor your authentic self beyond social expectations.

Themes

identity conformity freedom creativity alienation

Mood

reflective defiant hopeful

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

  • personal reflection
  • creative expression
  • social critique
  • artistic inspiration

Key Concepts

social stigma psychology mythology subculture

Questions to Reflect On

  • What aspects of your identity feel suppressed?
  • How can you safely explore nonconformity?
A Different Perspective

The desire for rootlessness can clash with practical responsibilities and societal stability.

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