Quotes from Shame

“Realism can break a writer's heart.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Between shame and shamelessness lies the axis upon which we turn; meteorological conditions at both these poles are of the most extreme, ferocious type. Shamelessness, shame: the roots of violence.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“A man who catches History's eye is thereafter bound to a mistress from whom he will never escape.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“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..”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“You can get anywhere in Pakistan if you know people, even into jail.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“But shame is like everything else; live with it for long enough and it becomes part of the furniture.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Repression is a seamless garment; a society which is authoritarian in its social and sexual codes, which crushes its women beneath the intolerable burdens of honour and propriety, breeds repressions of other kinds as well.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Roots, I sometimes think, are a conservative myth, designed to keep us in our places.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Is history to be considered the property of the participants only?”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“History is natural selection. Mutant versions of the past struggle for dominance; new species of fact arise,and old, saurian truths go to the wall, blindfolded and smoking last cigarettes. Only the mutations of the strong survive. The weak, the anonymous, the defeated leave few marks: field-patterns, axe-heads, folk-tales, broken pitchers, burial mounds, the fading memory of their youthful beauty. History loves only those who dominate her: it is a relationship of mutual enslavement.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“So-called Islamic 'fundamentalism' does not spring, in Pakistan, from the people. It is imposed on them from above. Autocratic regimes find it useful to espouse the rhetoric of faith, because people respect that language, are reluctant to oppose it. This how religions shore up dictators; by encircling them with words of power, words which the people are reluctant to see discredited, disenfranchised, mocked.
But the ramming-down-the-throat point stands. In the end you get sick of it, you lose faith in the faith, if not qua faith then certainly as basis for a state. And then the dictator falls, and it is discovered that he had brought God down with him, that the justifying myth of the nation has been unmade. This leaves only two options: disintegration, or a new dictatorship ... no, there is a third, and I shall not be o pessimistic as to deny its possibility. The third option is the substitution of a new myth for the old one. Here are three such myths, all available from stock at short notice: liberty; equality; fraternity.
I recommend them highly.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“(...) every story one chooses to tell is a kind of censorship, it prevents the telling of other tales (...)”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Human beings have a remarkable talent for persuading themselves of the authenticity and nobility of aspects of themselves which are in fact expedient, spurious, base.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“From 'The Suicide', a play by the Russian writer Nikolai Erdman: 'Only the dead can say what the living are thinking.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“We know the force of gravity, but not its origins; and to explain why we become attached to our birthplaces we pretend that we are trees and speak of roots. Look under your feet. You will not find gnarled growths sprouting through the soles. Roots, I sometimes think, are a conservative myth, designed to keep us in our places.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“В онези дни домът на военния диктатор напомняше по-скоро на дом за сираци, отколкото на седалище на държавната власт. И за всичко беше виновна Благовестка: от корема й като от рога на изобилието се изсипваха все повече и повече деца. Двадесет и седем деца между една и шестгодишна възраст се оригваха, лигавеха, пълзяха, драскаха с цветни моливи по стените, редяха кубчета, ревяха, заливаха се със сок, заспиваха, падаха по стълбите, чупеха вазите, ту плачеха, чу се смееха, пееха, играеха, скачаха, напикаваха се в пелените и гащите си, молеха за внимание, бърбореха току-що научени мръсни думи, ритаха бавачките си, в никакъв случай не искаха да си мият зъбите, дърпаха за брадата учителя си по религия, който ги учеше да пишат и да четат Корана, разкъсваха пердетата, цапаха диваните, изгубваха се от погледа на възрастните, връщаха се с рани навсякъде по тялото. Бягаха, когато видеха иглата за ваксинация, хем искаха домашни животни, хем тутакси губеха интерес към тях, влачеха по пода малки радиоприемници , втурваха се в стаите, където се провеждаха правителствени заседания (а те не бяха рядкост в този побъркан дом).”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Unashamed, accustomed to solitude, he began to enjoy his near-invisibility. From his position at the edge of the school around him, he took vicarious pleasure in the activities of those around him, silently celebrating the rise or fall of this or that playground emperor, or the examination failures of particularly unappetizing class-fellows: the delights of the spectator.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Докато търсеха стариците, хората опустошиха всичко в техния дом. Сякаш ято скакалци преминаваше през него. Изтръгваха старите гоблени от стените, а овехтялата тъкан се разпадаше в ръцете им и ставаше на прах; чупеха ключалките на кутиите и изваждаха отдавна излезлите от употреба банкноти и монети; отваряха скърцащите врати, старите панти не издържаха и вратите с грохот падаха на пода; преобръщаха дюшеците, измъкваха сребърни прибори от кухненските шкафове, изтръгваха златните крачета на ваните в баните; разпаряха дамаската на диваните и търсеха скрити съкровища; изхвърлиха през прозореца стария диван-люлка на улицата. Сякаш магията се бе развалила и тълпата се бе пробудила от дълбокия си сън; най-после беше получила отговор на отколешната тайна, която толкова години ги бе измъчвала. После щяха изумено да се вглеждат един в друг и да не вярват на очите си, а в душите им щяха да се борят срам и гордост. „Нима това е наше дело? – щяха да се питат те. – Но нали сме най-нормални хора?”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Обезглавеният му труп рухна на пода, а заситеният Звяр отново притихна. Суфия стоеше несигурно на краката си и в недоумение примигваше с очи. Тя не знаеше (и откъде да знае?), че измислица или не, един ден всички разкази внезапно свършват; че всепоглъщащият пламък едва сега се разгаря; че когато дойде Съдният ден съдиите също ще трябва да отговарят за деянията си; че Звяра на срама не може дълго да съществува в чуждо тяло, защото се храни, расте, разкъсва обвивката си и накрая се взривява.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“...which she had spent long and happy hours releasing from their shells, with crazy dedication, because the shelling of pine-kernels is a form of lunacy, you spend more energy getting the damn things out than they give you when you eat.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“How young he was when he made the surprisingly adult resolution to escape from the unpalatable reality of dreams into the slightly more acceptable illusions of his everyday, walking life!”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“But if a peacock dances in the jungle, there is nobody to see its tail.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“This leaves only two options: disintegration, or a new dictatorship ... no, there is a third, and I shall not be so pessimistic as to deny its possibility. The third option is the substitution of a new myth for the old one. Here are three such myths, all available from stock at short notice: liberty, equality, fraternity.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Така нареченият „ислямски фундаментализъм”, т.е. мюсюлманските догми, които пронизват всички сфери на живота, в Пакистан се насаждат не „отдолу” а „отгоре”. Всеки диктаторски режим използва религиозните постулати в своя собствена полза. Народът уважава високопарните думи, не всеки ще се осмели да им възрази, защото ще излезе, че се обявява против Вярата. Ето как религията подкрепя диктаторите – въоръжава ги със силни и величави думи. А простият народ няма веднага да забележи, че тези думи вече са опозорени, осквернени и осмяни.
Но управниците продължават да ги предлагат на вниманието му, докато накрая на хората им призлее. И тогава вярата във Вярата изчезва и това засяга не само богопослушанието, а и самата религия като основа на държавата. Изгонват диктатора и става ясно, че заедно с него са прогонили и Бог – митът, с който държавата е прикривала своята дейност, е развенчан. И страната трябва да направи избора си: или хаос и разпад, или нова диктатура. Впрочем съществува и трета възможност и аз няма да я изключа, защото не съм чак такъв песимист. Тя се състои в това, че на мястото на стария мит идва нов. Или по-точно три нови мита, които винаги са ни под ръка: свобода, равенство, братство.
Силно ви ги препоръчвам.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“love is an emotion that recognizes itself in others.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“And - as is perhaps the universal custom of aristocratically bred persons - they reacted to the news of their ruin by resolving to throw a party.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“(...) unkept secrets always manage to escape, under a door, through a keyhole or an open window, until everyon knows everything and nobody knows how ... (...)”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“Поради горделивостта на своите майки и поради изключителните обстоятелства в своя живот, когато бе дванайсетгодишен, Омар Хаям Шакил не знаеше абсолютно нищо за чувството, което му бяха забранили да изпитва.
- Какво е „срам” – попита той, а като видяха колко е объркан, майките му отговориха кратко:
- Когато изпитваш срам, лицето ти пламва от горещина, ала душата ти зъзне, сякаш е скована от лед – каза най-младата Буни.
- Той кара жените да плачат и да молят смъртта да ги отнесе, а мъжете – да губят ума си – каза мама Чхуни.
- Само че понякога става тъкмо обратното - измърмори средната му по възраст майка с глас на пророчица.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“-Mie ar trebui să îmi fie rușine, îl informă el pe un porumbel cocoțat pe marginea ferestrei. Stau aici, făcând ceea ce critic, cu gândurile Dumnezeu știe unde, trăind prea mult în imaginație.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

“(...) but no, ends must not be permitted to precede beginnings and middles, even if recent scientific experiments have shown us that within certain types of closed systems, under intense pressure, time can be persuaded to run backwards, so that effects precede their causes.”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shame

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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