Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie got awarded another award, and I found this interesting answer:

Image via Wikipedia

"Do people make history, or does history make people?"


... "Fury came out on September 11, 2001," he said. "No one felt much like reading that day. What was written as a portrait of contemporary Manhattan ended up being a historical novel the very day it was released." He described reading what he had intended as a sharply satirical passage at a Manhattan bookstore after the attack. But the context had changed. "I got waves of nostalgia coming from the audience.""

Cute Apology

Image by almost witty via Flickr

Apology Form for Drunkeness:

Letters of Note has a form letter from the 9th century found in western China produced by the Dunhuang Bureau of Etiquette.

"Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realised what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the earth with shame."

The Chinese are definitely great culture, with hoary history of civilisation.