Quotes about culture
page 35

“[T]his species works intentionally on its own destruction (by war). This, however, does not keep the rational creatures of such a constantly advancing culture, even in the midst of war, from promising to mankind in coming centuries an unequivocal prospect of bliss which will never end.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Kant, Immanuel (1996), page 185
Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798)

War

“This premise -- that technology only came to promote progress -- puts us in great danger since there is no questioning of its functionality, problem-solving, advantages and disadvantages. Without consciousness of the use of digital technologies, we end up being cast in a way that is imposed on us. Having a critical approach is necessary to shape the technologies to respect our culture, customs and needs.”

David Nemer

(p. 48)
Favela Digital- The other side of technology. (2013)

Way, Question, Problem

“I do not think that the time is right to talk about democracy in its absolute concept. Arab societies marginalized their modern thinkers and scholars for the elders who stopped their time before fourteen centuries, which is the difference between us and them .. Therefore, it was necessary to work on spreading a more realistic culture in which modern science has a more open place. Take, for example, if we asked the Tunisian people (he meant former President Bourguiba then and not now) to hold a referendum on his position on women's education, then I can assure that 99.99% will refuse her education.”

Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) Tunisian politician

Women, People, Education, Democracy

“I will impose women's freedom and rights by the force of the law, and I will not wait for the democracy of a people duped by male culture in the name of religion.”

Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) Tunisian politician

Women, People, Religion, Law

“It’s demonstrably not ‘simply human nature’ to annihilate all around us. No, it’s the nature of this particular human culture. Human potential is so much more, and that’s why conflating the two is so toxic.”

Shaun Chamberlin

"Humanity – not just a virus with shoes", Dark Optimism (2019) http://www.darkoptimism.org/2019/08/06/humanity-not-just-a-virus-with-shoes/#post-6037

Nature

“I deplore racism and all the cruelty and strife it breeds. I am convinced the only long-term solution to every brand of ethnic animus is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ alone are the barriers and dividing walls between people groups broken down, the enmity abolished, and differing cultures and ethnic groups bound together in one new people... It is a startling irony that believers from different ethnic groups, now one in Christ, have chosen to divide over ethnicity. They have a true spiritual unity in Christ, which they seem to disdain in favor of fleshly factions.”

John F. MacArthur (1939) American pastor and author

"Social Injustice and the Gospel" https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B180813/social-injustice-and-the-gospel (13 August 2018), Grace to You 2010s

People, Christ

“This success has little to do with cultural factors. And the lack of cultural bias means that these practices can be – and are – just as successfully employed elsewhere.”

Masaaki Imai (1930) Japanese business theorist and consultant

Success

“Any organization’s competitiveness, ability to adapt, and culture arise from the routines and habits by which the people in the organization conduct themselves every day. It is an issue of human behavior.”

Mike Rother (1958) American business academic

People, Behavior

“While Malaysians are concerned about the spread of the (2019-nCoV) virus to our shores, we are equally sympathetic towards China, especially given that the two countries share deep cultural and business ties which have been built over decades.”

Teresa Kok (1964) Malaysian politician

Teresa Kok (2020) cited in " Coronavirus: Malaysia to donate 18 million medical gloves to China https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/01/31/coronavirus-malaysia-to-donate-18-million-medical-gloves-to-china" on The Star Online, 31 January 2020.

Business, Country

“I twitch every time anyone mentions ‘Germanic’ culture.”

Guy Halsall (1964) English historian

Replying to @lhardingwrites, Halsall, Guy, 19 May 2019, Twitter, http://archive.is/Pvr6O, 27 January 2020, 1 February 2020 https://twitter.com/Real_HistoryGuy/status/1130126559413772289, Quotaes, Twitter (2019)

Time

“It felt uncomfortably foreign, I would say. Obviously, it was the first time I had been in a country where everybody looked like me. But obviously, culturally, it was completely alien. And I found people in the street in St. Kitts actually were calling me "English"..”

Caryl Phillips (1958) Kittian-British writer

On returning to St. Kitts during his 20s after emigrating to England with her parents during childhood in “'Lost Child' Author Caryl Phillips: 'I Needed To Know Where I Came From'” https://www.npr.org/2015/03/21/394127475/lost-child-author-caryl-phillips-i-needed-to-know-where-i-came-from in NPR (2015 Mar 21)

People, Time, Country

“I try to be respectful of the culture. I try to tell a story and maintain my voice as empowering women, but I tell it softly. I'm not a person who is like a radical or something like that and I don't try to clash with the culture. I try to tell an intimate story and bring people and hopefully change their perspective on film and they see film puts a human face on the culture rather than like expose it.”

Haifaa al-Mansour (1974) Saudi Arabian film director

Wadjda: Haifaa al Mansour on becoming Saudi Arabia's first female feature film director, The Guardian - 16 Jul 2013, at 0 Min 29 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFAwZdvRij4

Women, People, Change, Personality

“Democratic confederalism is a non-state social paradigm. It is not controlled by a state. At the same time, democratic confederalism is the organisation of democracy and culture.”

Abdullah Öcalan (1949) Founder of the PKK

The Political Thought of Abdullah Ocalan (2017), Democratic Confederalism, Principles of Democratic Confederalism

Democracy, Time

“The press, television, and movies make heroes of vandals by calling them whiz kids. ... There is obviously a cultural gap. The act of breaking into a computer system has to have the same social stigma as breaking into a neighbor's house. It should not matter that the neighbor's door is unlocked.”

Ken Thompson (1943) American computer scientist, creator of the Unix operating system

"Reflections on Trusting Trust" http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/360000/358210/reflections.pdf, 1983 Turing Award Lecture, Communications of the ACM 27 (8), August 1984, pp. 761-763.

Making love, Housing

“The heart of New Mexico is, for me, the people, la gente—los compadres, las comadres, los tíos, las tías, los vecinos…It’s the connection and the understanding between my Indo-Hispano cultures. If people don’t make that connection, they don’t understand New Mexico.”

Rudolfo Anaya (1937) Novelist, poet

On New Mexico and its people in “THE GODFATHER” https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/the-godfather/ in New Mexico Magazine (2017)

People, Making love, Understanding, Heart

“The change of way of worship under duress or for other reasons has not changed their forefathers or their culture. Culture is associated with a country and not with a religion.”

Balraj Madhok (1920–2016) Indian politician

B. Madhok: Indianisation quoted in Decolonizing the Hindu Mind (2001) by Koenraad Elst

Religion, Way, Change, Country

“I ain't paying money to always see one type of person on-screen…Because you see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you're a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers.”

John Boyega (1992) British Nigerian actor

On the diversity in Star Wars in “John Boyega on Star Wars, Detroit, and Staying Sane with the Help of Robert Downey Jr.” https://www.gq.com/story/john-boyega-star-wars-detroit-and-robert-downey-jr in GQ Magazine (2017 Jul 17)

Money, People, Personality

“Moving beyond orientalism finally presupposes moving beyond the culture of domination and the politics of coercion that have nurtured orientalism in all its varieties, and been nurtured by it in turn.”

Sheldon Pollock (1948) American linguist

(Pollock 1993:117), quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2018). Still no trace of an Aryan invasion: A collection on Indo-European origins.

“It's upsetting to any culture when that is the only projection you have of that culture…You're pigeon-holed, stereotyped. That means we don't like you. We forget that this country was founded by immigrants.”

Lupe Ontiveros (1942–2012) Mexican-American actress

On being repeatedly cast as a housekeeper (as quoted in “'Selena' co-star Lupe Ontiveros dies at 69” http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/27/selena-co-star-lupe-ontiveros-dies-at-69/ in CNN; 2012 Jul 27)

Country, Forgetting

“Creators aligned with Divine Will
Make the soul perceptible.
Artist priests with minimal dogma
Transfix, transform, and evolve
The chaotic melding of cultures,
Through the dross of ego
To superconsciousness fusion
With the Nature-field.”

Alex Grey (1953) American artist

Art Psalms (2008), Art Psalms

Making love, Soul, Nature

“The sometimes-negative aspect of growing up in this country without a firm cultural basis is that your entire being becomes predicated on satisfying others. And I discovered that's what I was doing…”

Tope Folarin (1982) Nigerian writer

On discovering who he was during grad school in “Tope Folarin Was 'A Particular Kind Of Black Man' — So He Wrote A Book About It” https://www.npr.org/2019/08/24/751917486/tope-folarin-was-a-particular-kind-of-black-man-so-he-wrote-a-book-about-it in NPR (2019 Aug 24)

Country

“Every time I hear the word culture I release the safety catch on my 9mm.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)

Time

“The seeds of civilization are in every culture, but it is city life that brings them to fruition.”

Susanne K. Langer (1895–1985) American philosopher

Source: Philosophical Sketches (1962), Ch. 6, p. 101

Life

“The prophet Muhammad also divided humanity into two sections - the Arabs and non-Arabs... the non-Arabs are to be ruled through the yoke of the Arab Cultural Imperialism... one ought to remember that Islam is less a religion and more an Arab National movement.”

Anwar Shaikh (1928–2006) British Pakistani writer

Anwar Shaikh inn Lal, K. S. (2002). Return to roots. New Delhi: Radha.(68)

Religion

“[A]ll that which America did not get from Europe may seem worthy of admiration to a Jewified mixed race, but Europe regards that merely as symptomatic of decay in artistic and cultural life, the product of Jewish or Negroid blood mixture.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

1940s, Speech Declaring War Against the United States (1941)

Life

“Not that any simple principle exists, and not that I couldn’t be wrong. But it seems to me—well, that which we are, our society or culture or what you want to name it, has a life and a right of its own.”

Poul Anderson book The People of the Wind

He drew breath. “Best beloved,” he said, “if communities didn’t resist encroachments, they’d soon be swallowed by the biggest and greediest. Wouldn’t they? In the end, dead sameness. No challenges, no inspirations from somebody else’s way. What service is it to life if we let that happen?

Chapter 19 (p. 175)
The People of the Wind (1973)

Life

“Theatre is almost the last place in the world of culture where living people meet living people.”

Yehoshua Sobol (1939) Israeli dramatist

Source: [Interview with Joshua Sobol In Residence at Israeli Stage, Israeli Stage, 6 April 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUAhlp2yLZ8] (quote at 11:17 of 18:14)

People, World

“I’m supposed to be at this sort of thing but even I find it pretty damn tedious at times. Still, receptions and parties are pan-cultural, so we’re told. I’ve never been sure whether to be reassured or appalled by that.”

Iain Banks Culture series

Source: Culture series, Look to Windward (2000), Chapter 8a “The Retreat at Cadracet” (p. 154)

Time

“Our need to belong is not rational, but it is a constant that exists across all people in all cultures.”

Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker

Source: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

People

“The pursuit of happiness is a toxic value that has long defined our culture. It is self-defeating and misleading. Living well does not mean avoiding suffering; it means suffering for the right reasons. Because if we’re going to be forced to suffer by simply existing, we might as well learn how to suffer well.”

Mark Manson book Everything Is Fucked

Happiness, Suffering, Learning, Self-confidence

“It is not possible to fully understand modern world culture without appreciating its connection and its continuity with the heritage of classical culture.”

Tullio De Mauro (1932–2017) Italian linguist

Claudio Gentili, “Time out” for Classical Studies? The Future of Italian Liceo Classico in the 4.0 world https://www.researchgate.net/deref/http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.15581%2F004.33.127-143, in Estudios Sobre Educacion, 33:127-143, October 2017.

World, Understanding

“Repression against the Amazigh people is still very much alive and is very likely to worsen, given that most North African countries are controlled by authoritarian monarchies and governments, where there is little room for social change and much less cultural change.”

Massin Akandouch (2001) Amazigh activist

Original quote in Catalan September 9, 2020 Massin's Op-ed at Núvol.com Magazine. https://www.nuvol.com/llengua/la-bandera-il-legal-119777/

People, Change, Country

“Racism is an avoidable culture clash masquerading as inescapable biological warfare.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

“I believe that the art world will expand into a broader field and intertwine more and more disciplines and cultures setting new trends within the cultural field.”

Giovanni Morassutti (1980) Italian actor, theatre director and cultural entrepreneur.

In response to the question, " Which new arts management practices and topics are going to be adapted in the near future in the European context?", from the interview "Arts management in South Asia and Europe. The intertwining of arts management and artistic practice", Arts Management Network - State of the arts (May 25, 2020) https://www.artsmanagement.net/Articles/Arts-management-in-South-Asia-and-Europe-The-intertwining-of-arts-management-and-artistic-practice,4139.

World, Art

“Kids are kids. No matter what year it is, no matter what language they speak or culture they’re in. There is something deeply universal about being a teenager, and I try to capture that universality in the things that I write.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Universe

“The negative symptoms of the male culture are harnessed by the prescription drug culture.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 310

“The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world; it will accept those whom breeding and intellect and culture have alike rejected. The common place person begins to play, and shoots into the empyrean without effort, whilst we look up, marvelling how he has escaped us, and thinking how we could worship him and love him, would he but transalate his visions into human words, and his experiences into human actions.”

E.M. Forster book A Room with a View

Source: A Room with a View (1908), Ch. 3

Love, World, Making love, Music

“The aims and ideals of the Soviet revolution inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of millions of people in the 1930s, during World War II, and in the postwar reconstruction period. This explains the Soviet Union's great leap forward, the achievement of a high level of industrial capacity in a very short time, the transformation of the Soviet Union into a major power in terms of science and culture. The historic victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazism, which was a surprise not only for Hitler but also for the Western democracies is also explained by what we have said above. All this is true. But the historical truth is also that the regime and the system abused the faith of the people in these high ideals, turning them to its own advantage. Rule by the people, equality, justice, and the promise of a happy future — all these ideas were utilized for the sake of maintaining and strengthening totalitarianism.”

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931) General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1990s, On My Country and the World (1999)

War, Happiness, People, Truth

“I consider myself a border person, even though I grew up in the south of Mexico and very north of the U.S., in Minneapolis. I hold many of the same realities with the people who have grown up around these borders. We share the languages, they have a very kind of open identity of who we are, they are constantly growing and learning from different cultures, and also absorb what comes from other cultures to make it our own…”

Lila Downs (1968) Mexican American singer-songwriter

On her affinity with those who were raised or reside on the U.S.-Mexico border in “Q&A: Lila Downs, A Sin and A Miracle” https://remezcla.com/music/lila-downs-sin-miracle-pecados-milagros-interview/ in Remezcla (c. 2011) Heritage and indigenous peoples

People, Making love, Reality, Learning

“Oh it’s very beautiful to have a very rich heritage from my Indian ancestors. My mother is Mixtec [a native tribe of Oaxaca], and my father was Scottish American. Growing up with those cultures has been enriching. Though, at first very difficult because I was rejected by one culture — in the Mexican Nation there is a lot of discrimination towards the Indian groups. So I struggled with that and with being discriminated as a Mexican. But I think music has been able to erase those boundaries. I think it’s easier to stop talking about those borders, and talk more about the music — to make music so that those borders are erased in a poetic way.”

Lila Downs (1968) Mexican American singer-songwriter

On her racial heritage in “Q&A: Lila Downs, A Sin and A Miracle” https://remezcla.com/music/lila-downs-sin-miracle-pecados-milagros-interview/ in Remezcla (c. 2011) Heritage and indigenous peoples

Making love, Beauty, Music, Way

“Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars. We must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet. Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful.”

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (1980) American marine biologist and policy expert

Source: A love story for the coral reef crisis https://www.ted.com/talks/ayana_elizabeth_johnson_a_love_story_for_the_coral_reef_crisis (April 2019)

Food, Hope, Communication, Motivation

“We have this culture of men, especially, watching pornography, but then [they are] offended by a classic nude portrait or photograph, and I've never felt that way.”

Emily Ratajkowski (1991) American model and actress

Men, Way

“The imbalances of our political, social, cultural, spiritual condition must be turned into revolutionary action to overthrow this corrupt system of dutch colonial exploitation.”

Joceline Clemencia (1952–2011) Curaçaoan writer

Source: Source https://triunfodisablika.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/an-anti-colonial-anthem-joceline-clemencia/

“A civilization of life is one that embraces life, caring for families, supporting children and the elderly. A civilization of death authorizes the killing of unborn human beings, condones the killing of the elderly and encourages people to live only in their own interest. A culture of life is the one with eternal and timeless values.”

Don Feder (1946) writer; Media consultant

Is Formal Marriage Out of Fashion? Interview with Communications Director of the World Congress of Families Don Feder https://youth-time.eu/don-feder-communications-director-of-the-world-congress-of-families/ (November 15, 2014)

Life, Death, Children, People

“We must not believe those, who today, with philosophical bearing and deliberative tone, prophesy the fall of culture and accept the ignorabimus. For us there is no ignorabimus, and in my opinion none whatever in natural science. In opposition to the foolish ignorabimus our slogan shall be:
We must know — we will know!”

David Hilbert (1862–1943) German prominent mathematician

Wir müssen wissen — wir werden wissen! Address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians, in Königsberg (8 September 1930). The concluding statement was used as the epitaph on his tomb in Göttingen. Radio broadcast of the address http://math.sfsu.edu/smith/Documents/HilbertRadio/HilbertRadio.mp3, and transcription and English translation http://math.sfsu.edu/smith/Documents/HilbertRadio/HilbertRadio.pdf.

Nature, Science

“Nobody has been able to come up with the source where I allegedly said the outrageous thing that has been attributed to me. My name is being misused, but not in Norway or Sweden or Denmark where my position on violence in the name of religion or culture is so well known that it would be absurd to attribute a defense of rape to me.”

Unni Wikan (1944) Norwegian anthropologist

25 April 2007 protest of misattributed quote below

Religion

“Ours is a culture where we wear our ability to get by on very little sleep as a kind of badge of honor that symbolizes work ethic, or toughness, or some other virtue—but really, it’s a total profound failure of priorities and of self-respect.”

Timothy Ferriss book Tools of Titans

Failure, Sleep, Self-confidence

“We’re all migrants in Brazil, but we can’t fling our doors open wide for [everybody] to just come. [...] To come here and marry 11-year-old children... […] We can’t tolerate certain types of people coming to Brazil and disrespecting our culture and our religion,”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

During a broadcast on social media on 12 December 2018. Bolsonaro says Brazil may “quit” Paris Agreement http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/politica/noticia/2018-12/bolsonaro-says-brazil-may-quit-paris-agreement. Agência Brasil (13 December 2019). 2018

Children, People, Religion

“Mary teaches us in prayer, in the Rosary, that’s one thing; but in those cultural traditions as well – in the traditions of the Garifuna people, in the traditions of the Maya, the Kriol, the Mestizo, are all round our country – ways that bring us together, across generations, and help us to squeeze that poison out of our society. So newly-elected Bishop Lawrence Nicasio: lead us; guide us; show us how to use the ruguma, just as Jesus said: Remain in my love, that my love might be in you and your love might be complete; that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my command; love one another, as I have loved you. So show us how to integrate the daily prayer of the Rosary, as Mary instructed us at Fatima; teach us how to live the Garifuna greeting: darangila, luma, esieni – peace and love”

Christopher Glancy (1960) Second bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago.

Roman Catholic Church Installs New Bishop Larry Nicasio https://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/146238 (May 15, 2017)

Love, People, Making love, Peace

“The roles that Eastwood has played, and the films that he has directed, cannot be disentangled from the nature of the American culture of the last quarter century, its fantasies and its realities.”

Clint Eastwood (1930) actor and director from the United States

Author Edward Gallafent, commenting on Eastwood's impact on film from the 1970s to 1990s
Gallafent, Edward (1994). Clint Eastwood. p. 10. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0826406653.

Nature, Reality

“Everything great in western culture has come from the quarrel with nature.”

Camille Paglia book Sexual Personae

Source: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), p. 28

Nature

“Rarely is there money in the federal bureaucracy for the cultural and environmental needs of the Natives. I find it ironic however, that federal monies always miraculously appear to study and develop coal strip miners, uranium mines and nuclear waste dumps on Reservations.”

Winona LaDuke (1959) author and activist

As quoted in All Our Relations Native Struggle For Land & Life (1999), pg.101

Money, Study, Appearance

“I believe that even without speaking the same language, we can create unity: we understand each other because we pray. It’s a form of reconciliation of the world across the borders, cultures and languages of different nations. We’re a family and we complement each other.”

Eduardo Verástegui (1974) Mexican actor

Actor Eduardo Verástegui on John Paul II and being pro-life https://aleteia.org/2020/06/06/actor-eduardo-verastegui-on-john-paul-ii-and-being-pro-life/ (June 6, 2020)

World, Family, Understanding

“I don't have an English sense of humor. In my language, I have tons of it. In English, you have to really get the slang, and the culture.”

Chow Yun-fat (1955) Hong Kong actor

Interview with Chow Yun Fat https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2009-04-01/3 (April 1, 2009)

Sense

“Meaning can be found in all sorts of places. For most individuals it is found in the love of the people and places around them: in friends, family and loved ones, in culture, place and wonder. A sense of purpose is found in working out what is meaningful in our lives and then orientating ourselves over time as closely as possible to those centres of meaning. Using ourselves up on identity politics, social justice (in this manifestation) and intersectionality is a waste of a life.”

Douglas Murray (1979) British political commentator and far-right activist

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019)

Love, Life, People, Making love

“A society that says we are defined exclusively by the bar and the nightclub, by self-indulgence and our sense of entitlement, cannot be said to have deep roots or much likelihood of survival. But a society which holds that our culture consists of the cathedral, the playhouse and the playing field, the shopping mall and Shakespeare, has a chance.”

Douglas Murray book The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam

The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam (2017)

Sense, Chance, Self-confidence

“Our devotees must rediscover that being Christians in the Holy Land is a call. So we must not fall into the temptation, induced by our being few, to live segregated into a religious and cultural ghetto. Let’s get out of the ghetto.”

William Hanna Shomali (1950) auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

‘Get out of the ghetto,’ new auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem urges Christians https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/19813/get-out-of-the-ghetto-new-auxiliary-bishop-of-jerusalem-urges-christians (May 27, 2010)

“We should not believe so much in cultures and forget about God’s role in our lives. We should always keep in mind that all good relationships and families are built on principles of love and trustworthiness.”

Michael A. Blume (1946) American nuncio

Want strong and happy marriage? This bishop gave BEST marriage advice ever! https://www.tuko.co.ke/230842-want-strong-happy-marriage-this-bishop-gave-best-marriage-advice-photo.html ()

Love, God, Making love, Family

“I follow in this tradition because I believe literature matters, and in this book I insist that Asian American literature literally embodies the contradictions, conﬂicts, and potential future options of Asian American culture”

Viet Thanh Nguyen (1971) American author of fiction

Source: As quoted in “Race & Resistance Literature & Politics In Asian America" (2002) p.3

Books, Literature, Future

“Many of the Dioceses of Papua have been gifted with an old evangelization: the Christian population has grown and has received an excellent education. Today, in the new social and cultural context, opportunities to transmit the faith have decreased and new roads and new ways to bring the Gospel to children, youth and families are needed.”

Stephen Joseph Reichert (1943) American priest

The Church in Papua committed to the new evangelization http://www.fides.org/en/news/31701-OCEANIA_PAPUA_NEW_GUINEA_The_Church_in_Papua_committed_to_the_new_evangelization (11 June 2012)

Children, Youth, Education, Family

“Sometimes in our activist and production-oriented American society and culture we succumb to pragmatism looking at the Christian life and our sharing in the apostolic mission of the Church as a matter being able to “do” things for Christ, the Church or others. In fact, the Christian life is a gift and a call to truth and love given to us by God. It is first a matter of "being," of simply existing as a person created by God and redeemed by him in Christ. We live out this truth and love in specific ways according to our age, talents, and unique vocation. At no point are the sacraments about what we have done or promise to do for God. They are God's free gift of grace to us. At the same time, these gifts of love entail an obligation to bear witness to God's love in word and deed by our collaboration in freedom with the grace given.”

Álvaro Corrada del Río (1942) Puerto Rican Catholic bishop

Pastoral Reflection on the Sacrament of Confirmation http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Bishop_Corrada_Pastoral_Reflecton%20_on_Confirmation.html (October 7, 2005)

Love, Life, God, Truth

“The creation of Sanskrit, the “refined” language, was a prodigious work on a grand scale. Grammarians and semanticists of genius undertook to create a perfect language, artificial and permanent, belonging to no one, that was to become the language of the entire culture.”

Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) French historian, musicologist, Indologist and expert on Shaivite Hinduism

Alain Danielou in: A Brief History of India https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Kwnv3I6qIosC&pg=PA58, Inner Traditions / Bear & Co, 11 February 2003, p. 58.

Perfection

“Sanskrit was a complete success and became the language of all cultured people in India and in countries under Indian influence. All scientific, philosophical, historical works were henceforth written in Sanskrit, and important texts existing in other languages were translated and adapted into Sanskrit. For this reason, very few ancient literary, religious, or philosophical documents exits in India in other languages. The sheer volume of Sanskrit literature is immense, and it remains largely unexplored.”

Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) French historian, musicologist, Indologist and expert on Shaivite Hinduism

Alain Danielou in: Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation: The Four Aims of Life in the Tradition of Ancient India https://books.google.co.in/books?id=IMSngEmfdS0C&pg=PA17, Inner Traditions / Bear & Co, 1 August 1993, p. 17.

People, Literature, Success, Country

“In a nutshell, poor education, a poor culture (one that impedes people from operating effectively together), poor infrastructure, and too much debt cause bad economic results. The best results come when there is more rather than less of: a) equal opportunity in education and in work, b) good family or family-like upbringing through the high school years, c) civilized behavior within a system that most people believe is fair, and d) free and well-regulated markets for goods, services, labor, and capital that provide incentives, savings, and financing opportunities to most people.”

Ray Dalio (1949) American businessman

[Economic Principles – Why and How Capitalism Needs to be Reformed, April 5, 2019, lejourdapres.parlement-ouvert.fr, https://lejourdapres.parlement-ouvert.fr/uploads/decidim/attachment/file/308/Economic_Principles_-_Why_and_How_Capitalism_Needs_To_Be_Reformed.pdf] (quote from p. 5 of 42)

Bad luck, People, Education, School

““I’m attempting to learn a little Welsh. Its very important to learn about culture of the people. In a sense it feels like I have turned full circle as I was born in a Celtic country.”

George Stack (1946) Irish Roman Catholic archbishop

Archbishop George Stack installed as Archbishop of Cardiff - Special Interview https://rcdow.org.uk/news/new-archbishop-of-cardiff/ (2011)

People, Feeling, Sense, Learning

“I try not to look up to people who are Filipino for the sake of their nationality. There seems to be a shortage of diversity in the arts in general, including publishing, so whenever I see a person of color doing something to further their culture or cause I tend to root for them.”

Jason Tanamor (1975) Filipino-American Author and Writer

Good News Pilipinas Interview (2020)

People, Art, Color, Personality

“The most Filipino thing about me is the way I look. Having grown up essentially in American culture, for the longest time I’d identified first as an American and second as a Filipino.”

Jason Tanamor (1975) Filipino-American Author and Writer

Esquire Philippines Interview (2020)

Way, Time

“I think [if you] consume mainstream pop culture and don’t activate a search for any other niche outlets then you can fall into this feeling that you are inferior.”

Ali Wong (1982) American actress, comedian, and writer

On how Asian-Americans might circumvent the feeling of being underrepresented in mainstream culture in in “'God, I was disgusting!' – Ali Wong on why women's bodies are the last taboo” https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/oct/17/god-i-was-disgusting-ali-wong-on-why-womens-bodies-are-the-last-taboo in The Guardian (2019 Oct 17)

Feeling, Search, Thinking

“I don't turn to greeting cards for wisdom and advice, but they are a fine reflection of the general drift of the culture.”

Susan Orlean (1955) American journalist

Wisdom

“Latvian language, culture, history and world outlook do not belong to Latvians only. Everyone who identifies oneself with some minority is kindly welcome to participate in the life of the country by preserving one's minority culture, language, and traditions in parallel. It is a contribution to richness and diversity of Latvia's culture.”

Egils Levits (1955) Latvian judge, jurist and politician

Source: Address given Assuming the Office / at the Saeima, https://www.president.lv/en/article/address-he-president-latvia-mr-egils-levits-assuming-office-saeima

Life, World, History, Country

“I feel like trans culture is just so obsessed with reassuring ourselves that we’re valid, that we sometimes forget that the end goal of a political movement is not validity, it’s equality.”

Natalie Wynn ContraPoints

ContraPoints

Feeling, Forgetting

“Elegance is not a matter of good taste. Every culture has its own idea of beauty, which is often completely different from ours.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About Elegance

Beauty, Idea

“We must walk together, preserving our culture and identifying but paying respect to difference, to the other person. We can work in a way pleasing to God only while respecting, appreciating and helping each other. Let us walk together!”

Gergely Kovács (1968) archbishop of Alba Iulia

Gergely Kovács, the new Archbishop of Transylvanian Catholics https://transylvanianow.com/this-is-my-diocese-i-am-coming-home-says-new-leader-of-transylvanian-catholics-archbishop-gergely-kovacs/ (February 23, 2020)

God, Way, Help, Personality

“They’re trying to keep the populists of both left and right apart with cultural issues, and they’re doing it to insulate themselves from any combination or constituency that can come after their power, perks and wealth. They’re dividing and conquering.”

Thaddeus McCotter (1965) American politician

Exclusive — Thaddeus McCotter: Elites’ Greatest Fear Is Left-Right Populist Unity https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2021/07/27/exclusive-thaddeus-mccotter-elites-greatest-fear-is-left-right-populist-unity/ (27 July 2021)

Wealth

“Culture, ... that standard shield of class, is allowed to surface only in order to become more evidence of ... vanity.”

Carl Oglesby (1935–2011) American political activist

"The Deserters: The Contemporary Defeat of Fiction" (1972)

“We're used to the idea that women aren't represented in our culture and media and politics and films. The idea that this extended to what was sold as objective - the idea of medicine and science, that they were also underrepresenting women - was just mind-blowing to me.”

Caroline Criado-Perez (1984) British journalist and author

On how women are ignored in the medical world in “Caroline Criado-Perez On Data Bias And 'Invisible Women'” https://www.npr.org/2019/03/17/704209639/caroline-criado-perez-on-data-bias-and-invisible-women in NPR (2019 Mar 17)

Women, Idea, Science

“I hope to see the kind of political culture that solves problems through dialogue and compromise, not through confrontation and conflict.”

Roh Moo-hyun (1946–2009) 9th President of the Republic of Korea

Excerpts from inaugural address (25 February 2003)

Hope, Problem

“With the help of two concepts that are traditionally opposed—science and spirituality—we humbly reintroduce psychedelics back into the cultural dialogue.”

Joe Rogan (1967) American martial artist, podcaster, sports commentator and comedian

DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2010)

Science, Help

“A healthy nation is founded on heritage, race and culture.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

Revolution by Number

“We all start out looking at life from the particular perspective of our upbringing, which provides us with assumptions about who we are. For most of us, this culturally imparted point of view simply remains our perspective as we move through life.”

Mooji (1954) Jamaican spiritual teacher

Greater than Sky, Vaster than Space, (2018), Part I

Life

“Bizarrely, as immigration began to change Europe at its economic and cultural core, the political vocabulary remained the same as when immigration had been a fringe phenomenon. People kept talking about restaurants.”

Christopher Caldwell (1962) American political writer

Reflections on the Revolution in Europe (2009)

People, Change

“We desperately need to create a culture of winners”

John Roth (1942) Canadian businessman

" John Roth http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2047568,00.html"

“Don't speak about diversity and just have us there because you want to make it look like it's diverse. Meaningful representation, that's what it's all about, where the characters have real hopes and dreams and lives and it's very sincere to the culture.”

Michelle Yeoh (1962) Malaysian-born actress of Chinese ethnicity

"Michelle Yeoh Hopes Crazy Rich Asians Will Turn the Trickle of Diversity in Hollywood "Into a Stream" " in Harper's Bazaar (27 August 2018) https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a22794930/michelle-yeoh-crazy-rich-asians-interview/

Dreams, Hope, Sincerity

“Biology enables, Culture forbids.”

Yuval Noah Harari Sapiens

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“The world is, and has long been, in flames because races, nations and cultures are forced to violate their Nature ordained instincts for self-preservation.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

Race to Extinction
Focus Fourteen

World, Nature

“There is a reason why there is no more Inca culture: there are no more Incas. You need the bearer of a culture. If there are no Flemish, there will be no more Flemish culture.”

Tom Van Grieken (1986) Belgian politician

Source: Tom Van Grieken: The white person must be a dominant factor in our society." https://www.nieuws365.be/news/27302/tom-van-grieken-het-blanke-moet-een-dominante-factor-zijn-in-onze-samenleving.

“I can't speak for everybody, and I don't want to say it for an entire culture, but for me, coming from an immigrant family, it's very difficult to go find your voice, which requires a lot of failure.”

Lulu Wang (1983) Asian-American filmmaker

As quoted in "Lulu Wang’s The Farewell lays bare the textured lives of immigrant families" in Dazed (31 May 2019) https://www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/44666/1/lulu-wang-the-farewell-interview-awkwafina

Family, Failure

“There have been moments where I laughed at my own family's culture, though it's hard to separate out whether something funny is cultural, or just my grandma specifically.”

Lulu Wang (1983) Asian-American filmmaker

As quoted in "The Farewell writer-director Lulu Wang on the joys of laughing at human nature" in The Verge (17 July 2019) https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/17/20696611/the-farewell-writer-director-lulu-wang-interview-awkwafina

Family, Grandma

“Naming is important. In many black cultures you learn the importance of giving the right name or not naming things…”

Danez Smith American poet

On the importance of naming in “INTERVIEW WITH DANEZ SMITH” http://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/interview-danez-smith/ in The White Review (June 2018)

Learning

“A public that tries to do without criticism, and asserts that it knows what it wants or likes, brutalizes the arts and loses its cultural memory. Art for art's sake is a retreat from criticism which ends in an impoverishment of civilized life itself.”

Northrop Frye book Anatomy of Criticism

Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957), Polemical Introduction

Life, Art, Memory

“We will puncture the pomposity of our elites in politics, business, media and academia and expose their growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is.”

Andrew Neil (1949) Scottish journalist and broadcaster

Andrew Neil: A welcome letter to GB News viewers https://www.gbnews.uk/shows/andrew-neil-a-welcome-letter-to-gb-news-viewers/105106.

Democracy, Business

“In any professional setting, I’m a fish out of water on many levels, not just racially and culturally but also in the work I do, which involves many artistic disciplines…”

Dmae Roberts American actress and writer

On doing things that scare her in “Who is Dmae Roberts?” https://artslandia.com/who-is-dmae-roberts/ in artslandia

Fish, Water

“The secret irony pervading these arguments [on objections to the goodness of God] is that they would never have occurred to consciences that had not in some profound way been shaped by the moral universe of a Christian culture.”

David Bentley Hart (1965) American theologian

Source: The Doors of the Sea (2005), Chapter 1, Section 2, location 144

God, Secret, Way, Universe

“We live in a self-defeating culture that pays lip service to heroic action in times of crisis, yet brutally punishes the very kind of snap judgments and instant security profiling that make such heroism possible in the first place.”

Michelle Malkin (1970) American political commentator

America’s Empty Slogan: “See Something, Say Something” http://michellemalkin.com/2013/04/17/americas-empty-slogan-see-something-say-something/ (April 17, 2013)

Time

“I love educating myself on different cultures' dishes and foods that are important and celebrated within that culture. I also think food brings people together. It's unifying!”

Lana Condor (1997) Vietnamese-American actress

"How Lana Condor Unwinds at Home After a Long Day" (4 February 2019) https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-lana-condor-unwinds-at-home-after-long-day

Love, People, Education, Food