--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The human race is a life sentence...it's…" description: "\"“The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough confinement, and sometimes we all need to break out of jail.”\" — Salman Rushdie" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg" --- # The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough… ![“The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough confinement, and sometimes we all need to break out of jail.” quote by Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg) > ““The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough confinement, and sometimes we all need to break out of jail.”” [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human life feels confining, urging a break from constraints. **In simple terms:** Life can feel like a prison. Key Takeaway Seek freedom from constraints. Themes existence freedom confinement Mood provocative inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - mental health - creative work - philosophical inquiry Key Concepts personal liberation creative expression Questions to Reflect On - What confines you? - How can you break free safely? A Different Perspective Breakthroughs can be risky. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Break Jail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/break-jail-1819230/) [Human race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-race/) [Jail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jail/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Sentence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-sentence-350551/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Sentence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentence/) [Sentence Rough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentence-rough-1819229/) ## Related quotes > [Break the jail, and fly to the unlimited. When you fall down, remember, you have been raised before and you can do it again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/break-the-jail-and-fly-to-the-unlimited-when-you-fall-down-remember/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If you could sum up your life in one sentence, then you didn’t live much of a life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carroll-bryant/if-you-could-sum-up-your-life-in-one-sentence-then-you-didn-t-live/) [Carroll Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carroll-bryant/) > [“You only spoke a single line, yet it felt like a life sentence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-joshua/you-only-spoke-a-single-line-yet-it-felt-like-a-life-sentence/) [Timothy Joshua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-joshua/) > [Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-a-levine/trauma-is-a-fact-of-life-it-does-not-however-have-to-be-a-life/) [Peter A. Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-a-levine/) > [Just come once and say you loved me at some point in you, then you are free to go.I will live rest of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushan/just-come-once-and-say-you-loved-me-at-some-point-in-you-then-you-are/) [Sushan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushan/) > [Then about 1951 I began writing again, painfully, a novel I called in the beginning A Life Sentence on Earth, but which developed into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-white/then-about-1951-i-began-writing-again-painfully-a-novel-i-called-in/) [Patrick White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-white/) > [“Reality is a life sentence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-john-x-veraja/reality-is-a-life-sentence/) [Carl-John X Veraja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-john-x-veraja/) > [“Looks sure can be deceiving: not every ‘ugly’ person is a ‘bad’ person (or is guilty of whatever it is that they are accused…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/looks-sure-can-be-deceiving-not-every-ugly-person-is-a-bad-person-or/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/school-is-a-twelve-year-jail-sentence-where-bad-habits-are-the-only/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [“After they stopped torturing him they locked him in the jail cell again and pretended they would forget him... Then, eventually, and unexpectedly, release.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/after-they-stopped-torturing-him-they-locked-him-in-the-jail-cell/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“Justice being served or not, being a victim carries a life sentence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-moore/justice-being-served-or-not-being-a-victim-carries-a-life-sentence/) [John D. Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-moore/) > [I am convinced that the world-wide protests during the Rivonia trial saved Mandela and his fellow-accused from a death sentence. But in South Africa,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-tambo/i-am-convinced-that-the-world-wide-protests-during-the-rivonia-trial/) [Oliver Tambo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-tambo/) > [I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/i-could-never-work-out-whether-we-were-to-view-religion-as-a-life/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [We agreed that great men and women should be forced to live as long as possible. The reverence they enjoyed was a life sentence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/we-agreed-that-great-men-and-women-should-be-forced-to-live-as-long/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“Alcoholism is a choice... not a life sentence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-norman/alcoholism-is-a-choice-not-a-life-sentence/) [David Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-norman/) ## 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/) [Explore all 1,087 Salman Rushdie quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## More Human race quotes > [Race is the idea that a human being is more superior than another human being, race in society grants illusional rights to mistreat each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/race-is-the-idea-that-a-human-being-is-more-superior-than-another/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [I think the next 50 years are going to present the human race with challenges that so far exceed the limitations of geopolitical boundaries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-quinto/i-think-the-next-50-years-are-going-to-present-the-human-race-with/) [Zachary Quinto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-quinto/) > [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [“At the moment, then, of Man’s victory over Nature, we find the whole human race subjected to some individual men, and those individuals subjected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/at-the-moment-then-of-man-s-victory-over-nature-we-find-the-whole/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“It occurred to me that the death of his grazing land hurt him more, incomparably more than the death of the human race. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-heller/it-occurred-to-me-that-the-death-of-his-grazing-land-hurt-him-more/) [Peter Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-heller/) > [“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” —Albert A. Bartlett”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-brynjolfsson/the-greatest-shortcoming-of-the-human-race-is-our-inability-to/) [Erik Brynjolfsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-brynjolfsson/) > [“My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhonen-vasquez/my-problem-is-that-the-human-race-seems-to-want-to-be-destroyed/) [Jhonen Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhonen-vasquez/) > [“I told him that if we doubted that we are demons in Hell, he should read The Mysterious Stranger, which Mark Twain wrote in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/i-told-him-that-if-we-doubted-that-we-are-demons-in-hell-he-should/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [ “both the Mosaic law and the grace of the new covenant, as both fitted for the times \[at which they were given\], were bestowed… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-church-fathers/both-the-mosaic-law-and-the-grace-of-the-new-covenant-as-both-fitted/) [The Church Fathers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-church-fathers/) > [“Human race had never planned to show up in this universe. I wonder whether current human efforts are relevant to its sustainability.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/human-race-had-never-planned-to-show-up-in-this-universe-i-wonder/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [As a result of reading science fiction when I was eight, I grew up with an interest in music, architecture, city planning, transportation, politics,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/as-a-result-of-reading-science-fiction-when-i-was-eight-i-grew-up/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“They all deserve to die. Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why. Because in all of the whole human race Mrs Lovett, there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-sondheim/they-all-deserve-to-die-tell-you-why-mrs-lovett-tell-you-why-because/) [Stephen Sondheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-sondheim/) > [You don't have to be Sigmund Freud to surmise that war has a perverse appeal for the human race, nor is the attraction limited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-willis/you-don-t-have-to-be-sigmund-freud-to-surmise-that-war-has-a-perverse/) [Ellen Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-willis/) > [How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsha-p-johnson/how-many-years-has-it-taken-people-to-realize-that-we-are-all/) [Marsha P. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsha-p-johnson/) [Browse all 2,205 Human race quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-race/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough confinement, and sometimes we all need to break out of jail.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Salman Rushdie" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a-rough-confinement-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Human race" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a-rough-confinement-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a0/salman-rushdie-153_human-race_the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a_2585993.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The human race is a life sentence...it's a rough confinement, and sometimes we all need to break out of jail.” — Salman Rushdie", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salman Rushdie", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The human race is a life...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a-rough-confinement-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-human-race-is-a-life-sentence-it-s-a-rough-confinement-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```