“Ibn Rushd's ideas were silenced in their time.”

— Salman Rushdie

Address at Columbia University (1991)
Context: Ibn Rushd's ideas were silenced in their time. And throughout the Muslim world today, progressive ideas are in retreat. Actually Existing Islam reigns supreme, and just as the recently destroyed "Actually Existing Socialism" of the Soviet terror-state was horrifically unlike the utopia of peace and equality of which democratic socialists have dreamed, so also is Actually Existing Islam a force to which I have never given in, to which I cannot submit.
There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Salman Rushdie 122

British Indian novelist and essayist 1947

Pierre Stephen Robert Payne (1911–1983) British lecturer, novelist, historian, poet and biographer

Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli, p. 139
The Corrupt Society - From Ancient Greece To Present-Day America (1975)

“Speech is silvern, Silence is golden; or, as I might rather express it: speech is of time, silence is of eternity.”

Thomas Carlyle book Sartor Resartus

As the Swiss inscription says: Sprechen ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden
Bk. III, ch. 3.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)

“There were grammatical errors even in his silence.”

Stanisław Jerzy Lec book Unkempt Thoughts

Nawet w jego milczeniu były błędy językowe.
Variant translation: Even in his silence were grammatical errors.
Unkempt Thoughts (1957)

“I think it is time for all peace-loving people of this world to start pondering where all this leads. I think it's high time that the weapons in this part of the world, and all over the world, were silenced.”

Ratko Mladić (1943) Commander of the Bosnian Serb military

From interview with Robert Block, 1995
Interviews (1993 – 1995)

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

“Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence”

Christopher Hitchens Letters to a Young Contrarian

Source: 2000s, 2001, Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001)
Context: Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.

“Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1830s, Sir Walter Scott (1838)

“Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

“For all evils there are two remedies - time and silence.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

“Silence is deep as Eternity, Speech is shallow as Time.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

“Ibn Rushd's ideas were silenced in their time.”

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