Model Sentences from Salman Rushdie

Sentences to study from the author of Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses, and Shame, quotes about finding a great sentence and going for broke, and Rushdie on “Faith & Reason” with Bill Moyers

Jan 20, 2025

What is there to say about Salman Rushdie that hasn’t already been said. Teller of truth. Writer of conviction. Intellectual of the crossroads between religion and contemporary society. Rushdie’s writings are both provocative, poetic, and insightful. The perfect writer to study for our modern times.

Three Questions to Ask When Studying Sentences

Use these three guiding questions to help you study the model sentences below and to write your own:

How is the sentence structured, and why does that structure work?
What literary or rhetorical devices are being used, and how do they enhance the sentence?
How does the sentence create emotion, and what techniques contribute to that effect?

Three Sentences by Salman Rushdie to Study and Imitate

Sentence #1

Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so make it true.

from Satanic Verses

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.

_____ is _____ : the ability to _____, to _____, and by doing so _____.

Here’s an example I came up with.

Loving others is the purpose of life: the ability to recognize the goodness in someone, to express it, and by doing so shining a light on another person’s existence.

Sentence #2

I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me.

from Midnight’s Children

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.

I am _____ , of _____ , of _____.

Here’s an example I came up with.

I am more than all of my failures, of dreams lost, of desires unmet.

Sentence #3

But shame is like everything else; live with it for long enough and it becomes part of the furniture.

from Shame

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a topic from your writing.

But _____ is like _____ ; (explain how _____ is like _____).

Here’s an example I came up with.

But fear is like a caged bird; feed it with your insecurities and listen to it squawk and scream for more.

Your Turn: Use the model sentences and frames to craft your own sentences and post them in the comments below.

Two Quotes by Salman Rushdie on finding a great sentence and going for broke.

Quote #1

“Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things–childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves–that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers.”

Journal Prompt: Use the following sentence starter and write for 10 minutes without stopping, thinking, or re-reading: “And never forget that writing is…”

Quote #2

“I once went to a book reading by the author Joseph Heller, the author of “Catch-22″ and other books. And he said that most of the books he had written had grown out of a single sentence– that he had written a sentence and he immediately saw that that sentence gave him another couple of hundred of sentences.”

Journal Prompt: What sentence from a book or essay that you’ve read lives rent free in your head? Why? Write the sentence from memory and spend 5 or 10 minutes free-writing about it. Where does the sentence take you?

One Cool Thing - Salman Rushdie on the Bill Moyers’ series “Faith & Reason”

Shortly after 9/11, Bill Moyers (Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth) hosted a seven-part series on PBS called “Faith and Reason” in which he discusses the role of religion in the modern world with a variety of writers and thinkers, including Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, and others.

In this sixty-minute discussion, Salman Rusdie talks about the intersection and struggles between politics and reason. He discusses his experiences with Muslim extremists who oppose his works, including issuing a fatwa after he published his novel SATANIC VERSES. It’s a fascinating discussion about a topic that we continue to wrestle with today.