Culture Identity Quotes

“Nelson Mandela once said, 'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.' He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else's language, even if it's just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, 'I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being”
― Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

“A significant number of people believe tribal people still live and dress as they did 300 years ago. During my tenure as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, national news agencies requesting interviews sometimes asked if they could film a tribal dance or if I would wear traditional tribal clothing for the interview. I doubt they asked the president of the United States to dress like a pilgrim for an interview.”
― Wilma Mankiller

“Civilization could not exist without tremors of desire and without the counteracting, negation force of disciplined denial. Nor would the gyratory pulsations of a lively civilization exist devoid of the convulsive chemistry of union and repellency. We are born with a desire to be immortal. Cursed with the knowledge that we must die, people live their orthodox lives out by displaying reckless abandon as to the outcome of human life or nervously hounded by utter despondency nipping their heels. How we resolve this decidedly human complex of carrying out our daily lives while burden by our inescapable mortality determines our essential character. The collation of similar values adopted by our community determines who we are as a people.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster

“All trademarks, company names, registered names, products, characters, mottos, logos, jingles and catchphrases used or cited in this work are the property of their respective owners and have only been mentioned and or used as cultural references to enhance the narrative and in no way were used to disparage or harm the owners and their companies. It is the author's sincerest wish the owners of the cited trademarks, company names, etc. appreciate the success they have achieved in making their products household names and appreciate the free plug.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“I've learned that, at certain points, even if we're of such different cultures, we can think alike, and understand each other easier than we may expect.”
― Tamuna Tsertsvadze, Notes of Oisin: From an Irish Monk to a Skaldic Poet

“The few weeks I have had at my disposal have not given me the chance to revive and to work through my old memories in such a way that I might offer you a solid introduction into the psychic life of Indians.”
― Aby Warburg, Images from the Region of the Pueblo Indians of North America

“It's also important to read the newspaper every day to see how the pope is doing. Here in Rome, the pope's health is recorded daily in the newspaper, very much like weather, or the TV schedule. Today the pope is tired. Yesterday, the pope was less tired than he is today. Tomorrow, we expect that the pope will not be so tired as he was today.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“There's something about a white man who
seriously opens up to black people. White people who become family to black people. There's another dimension of militance that emerges from them. They grip their anger with the system in ways black people are not allowed, in efforts to right the wrongs.”
― Razel Jones, Wounds

“This undying vigilance is such a part of the Jewish psyche that it might as well be genetic. Nomads we are, and nomads we remain. Cars replaced caravans, tents calcified into houses, yet the wanderings of old course through us, simmering under the surface.”
― Lev Golinkin, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir

“The wheels of our cultural “moral compass” run on the racist belief that women are somehow less privileged than males – and therefore many women don’t ever belong to even the sense of belonging.”
― Qamar Rafiq

“Culture creates awareness around issues, it entertains and saddens, it can encourage commitment to a social contract or strengthen personal hygiene in public. Culture is that powerful. Culture creates the icons we follow, that we see ourselves in, that we orient ourselves toward. It's culture that tells us to love or hate, accept or tolerate, embrace or reject.”
― Negin Farsad, How to Make White People Laugh

“We would like to inspire young Banabans to uphold their rich culture and traditions for many future generations.”
― Raobeia Ken Sigrah, Te Rii ni Banaba

“Dear black boy,

I know they segregated your mind to swag, hip-hop and culture. I know they taught you how to rap before you could read.”
― Tyrone Nkululeko Takawira

“I was an impostor; a half-breed trapped between two vibrant cultures, never allowed a choice without guilt.”
― Oksana Marafioti, American Gypsy

“You raised a question: what is sacred Without finding that, without coming upon it - not you finding it - without that
coming into being, you cannot have a new culture, you cannot have a new human quality.”
― J KRISHNAMURTI, The Real Crisis

“It's not home, but there is a place for me.”
― Samira Shackle

“The word "stereotype" makes me wince. Today it carries such a severe political correct judgement that is becomes sinful to "perpetuate stereotypes." But the objects of such usually thoughtless judgement continues to exist, most often courageously on the front lines of oppression - easily spotted, casually derided. Yet, examined closely, those "stereotypes" reveal a powerful source of enduring, often ancestral courage, even as today, they challenge the insistence that they no longer exist. But they do, and they survive. Certainly, my Amalia continues to exist, an individual, and proudly so.”
― John Rechy, The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez

“The term “cancel culture” is a right-wing American term. It’s a term crafted to gaslight and vilify changing progressive voice.

There’s no such thing as “cancel culture”. It’s “consequence culture”; and demands more than an apology for transgressions of harm.

“Consequence culture” aims to deplatform a person’s social capital until they make meaningful change.”
― Annastacia Dickerson

“Those women remind me of a culture and people I refuse to forget. Respecting what they do. Their sacrifice goes noticed.

I hope mis sueños go noticed too.”
― Kelsey Milian Lopez, The Sociology of A Miami Girl

“On growing up internationally - from the Daughter of Copper.

And so, with the greatest of ease, both as children and adults, we float back and forth between our two languages and cultures, seamlessly navigating the moments of time and place that define us.”
― Susan Bayless Herrera, Daughter of Copper, A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Identity, Growing up on Borrowed Land

“Anyone who has relied on church or family during a personal storm understands how rooted institutions provide us not only physical shelter but, even more important, emotional, psychological, or spiritual shelter. We lash ourselves to these oaks of the culture. Chopping them down with the aim of building a perfect society is the perfect recipe for destroying a good society.”
― Jonah Goldberg, Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy

“Had I lost my culture? I felt like I was constantly reminded that I was Indian—at work, at a store, when talking to white friends—some part of me was always aware that I wasn’t like the other people around me. It crept into every facet of my life, whether it was someone mispronouncing my name and me grinning and acting like it didn’t bother me, or people assuming I knew every other person with the last name Desai and not understanding it was as common as Smith and in a country far more populated than America. It followed me as I moved about my day, mentally tallying whether I was positive or negative on the karma scale, because while I wasn’t sure what the afterlife entailed, in the event reincarnation was our fate, I wanted to make sure I was on the right end of it. I still understood our native language, wore the clothes when needed, and ate the food mostly without complaint. I certainly never felt like I had “lost” it, but I wondered what made my mother think I had.”
― Mansi Shah, The Taste of Ginger

“The Omo peoples of Ethiopia are a huge favorite on social media for their astounding body art and rituals, such as the famous clay lip-plates of Mursi women. But most people looking at those pictures and videos have no clue about this incredible struggle going on behind the scenes.”
― Edward DeMarco, Last Days in Naked Valley: The Struggle for Humanity's Homeland

“There is no wild culture; it is wild to have none.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“Authentic Moroccan heritage has a strong immunity to foreign cultures, so that it accepts openness without being affected by any external culture. We must sustain and consolidate this immunity in order to preserve our identity as Moroccans.”
― Mohammed Tijani Nassiri

“Our culture weaponizes wanting or not wanting sex across many different identities and experiences as a way to marginalize them. It's not exclusive to asexuality.”
― Cody Daigle-Orians, I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life

“Perhaps it is possible, then, to see through more than one set of eyes, if one learns to pay attention to one's environment in a slightly different manner than one is accustomed to from birth.”
― Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey

“It's our responsibility to know our past and use our language and pass it on to our children. That is the one thing they cannot take away from us.”
― Phillippe Diederich, Lalo Lespérance Never Forgot

“As they made their promise, a cool breeze blew through the clearing, and they could have sworn they heard the kokiy's sound again, as if nature was saying "thank you".”
― Dr. Erlange Elisme

“I encourage you to cultivate your curiosity and discover how your cultural lens on the world can influence your interactions with people of diverse cultural backgrounds.”
― Gaiti Rabbani, Curious About Culture: Refocus your lens on culture to cultivate cross cultural understanding