Quotes about culture
page 36

“Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named...but a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Friday

Source: Friday (1982), Chapter 23 (p. 242)

Loss, Personality

“The cultivation -- even celebration -- of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.”

George Will (1941) American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author

Source: “Afflicted By Comfort” https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/01/11/afflicted-by-comfort/9aa0b1db-8b1f-4156-9bf9-8c9eb84ee6be/, The Washington Post, (January 11, 2004)

“Because of the nature of my work and because I was suffering from a grave ailment, my doctors advised me to take part in cultural activities to improve the balance of my sense of hearing and sense of sight. Thus, I came into contact with some literature and art.”

Jiang Qing (1914–1991) Chinese political figure and wife of Mao Zedong

Source: Speech at the Reception for the Representatives of the Beijing Workers Propaganda Team and the People's Liberation Army Propaganda Team (14 September 1968)

Art, Literature, Nature, Sense

“The establishment of troops in the cultural circles has this problem: the class element is relatively complicated. But, while a person cannot decide his own origin, his performance and attitude still count.”

Jiang Qing (1914–1991) Chinese political figure and wife of Mao Zedong

Source: Talk at the Peking Forum on Literature and Art (9 and 12 November 1967)

Problem, Personality

“What does loss mean to individuals? What does it mean to whole cultures, whole people who have learned to live with it as a constant companion?”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Source: Articles, Come September (29 Sep 2002)

People, Learning, Loss

“Hindus have become devoid of self-confidence simply because they have ceased to take legitimate, well-informed, and conscious pride in their spiritual, cultural, and social heritage.”

Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist

Source: Defence of Hindu Society (1983)

Confidence, Self-confidence

“The point being that the influence of dharmic philosophy on Western culture runs deep and yet consistently goes unacknowledged.”

Rajiv Malhotra book Being Different

Source: Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism (2011)

“We wish a great Poland, great with its achievements, culture, forms of social life, its position in Europe. The only way to gain this is by socialism accepted by society, constantly enriched by the everyday life experience.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

Life, Way

“The secret of mission work especially in areas with different cultures is to respect the people and the people will respect you.”

Gilles Côté (bishop) (1945) Canadian-born bishop

Source: An Exclusive Interview with Bishop Gilles Côté, SMM http://www.montfortian.info/en/blog/?an-exclusive-interview-with-bishop-gilles-côté,-smm (27 June 2018)

People, Secret

“I firmly believe in the importance to empower infertile women, who are mistreated and discriminated against in many cultures for not being able to have children and start a family.”

Neo Masisi (1962) first lady of Botswana

Neo Masisi https://www.africanews.com/2018/12/17/african-first-ladies-pledge-to-support-merck-foundation-to-empower-infertile-women-as-ambassadors/ African First ladies pledge to support Merck Foundation to empower infertile women as Ambassadors. (09/12/2019) Retrieved 5 November 2021.

Women, Children, Family

“This is the kind of capitalism I hate. This is bullying capitalism. Look, I am Igbo, I come from a trading culture. My people are merchant and I'm all for buying and selling. But capitalism has to be a fair exchange.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977) Nigerian writer

Paris review,2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/CWvTJmvqOLy/?utm_medium=copy_link

Hate, People

“Generosity towards others is a gesture of greatness of the soul. An inestimable human and cultural value.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La generosità verso gli altri è un gesto di grandezza dell'anima. Un inestimabile valore umano e culturale.
Source: prevale.net

Soul

“Indonesians must grateful for what the founding fathers have inherited through Pancasila, which stresses inclusivity in a plural society. In Indonesia, religion is challenged to learn from local cultures and not to underestimate humanity”

Adrianus Sunarko (1966) Indonesian Roman Catholic bishop

Source: Indonesian prelate becomes a theology professor https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-prelate-becomes-a-theology-professor/85179 (14 May 2019)

Religion, Learning

“Much has been lost in U.S. culture because of secularism. The values of the immigrants are very basic, reflecting a profound Catholicism where faith, family, and expressions of piety, etc., are part of our daily life.”

José Horacio Gómez (1951) Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Latin Influence and the Future of the Church in U.S. https://zenit.org/2005/06/20/latin-influence-and-the-future-of-the-church-in-u-s/ (20 June 2005)

Life, Family, Faith, Parting

“Maybe it’s a mark of a maturing culture, do you think, that secrets aren’t kept, that truth is told, that things are talked out?”

Arthur C. Clarke A Time Odyssey

Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, A Time Odyssey, Firstborn (2007), Chapter 49, “Areosynchronous” (p. 313)

Truth, Secret, Thinking

“There really is that role for all of us in the building of the culture of life.”

Obianuju Ekeocha (1979) Nigerian biomedical scientist

Source: https://thecatholicspirit.com/uncategorized/raised-in-a-culture-of-life-in-africa-ekeocha-brings-pro-life-message-to-the-world/ speaking on her faith

Life

“My secret weapon is my anger. That's what stimulates me as an artist. I want change. I want it yesterday. I'm pissed off at America. Society. American movies. American TV. American culture. American politicians. Capitalism. [...] Impatience and rage are always just beneath the surface for me.”

Dan Fante (1944–2015) American writer

Dan Fante [quote appears on Goodreads but does not state a source]
Unsourced

Secret, Rage, Change, Anger

“The African experience of Church and community has its own dynamics and culture. The particular situation they find themselves in is more trying to fight the assaults on human dignity and human family that are being imposed upon them by the West.”

Jeff Fortenberry (1960) U.S. Representative from Nebraska

Source: Pope to Catholic lawmakers: Be strong. Protect life. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/32545/pope-to-catholic-lawmakers-be-strong-protect-life (31 August 2015)

Family, Communication, Fight

“Everyone with different beliefs, with different backgrounds, with different cultures, they all come together and when you are in there (at the Miss Universe pageant), you forget about politics, about your religion. It's just about embracing other women.”

Andrea Meza (1994) Miss Universe 2020

Source: Andrea Meza (2021) cited in: " In Israel, Miss Universe says pageant no place for politics https://www.arabnews.com/node/1970011/offbeat" in Arab News, 17 November 2021.

Women, Religion, Universe, Forgetting

“The basic ideological programme of the great proletarian Cultural Revolution is 'to combat selfishness and criticize revisionism.'”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Source: Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966-1972)

Selfishness

“Technology is nature without the human being. It is abstract nature, reduced to itself, delivered over to itself, exalting and expressing itself on its own. It develops in such a way that all the virtualities and potentialities within it must be actualized, for them and for what they are, for their own sake, so that everything is done that can be done, that is to say, everything that nature can become. It is a matter of making gold, going to the moon, building self-guiding and self-monitoring missiles that can decide on the moment to self-destruction – and destroy us. Technology is alchemy; it is the self-fulfillment of nature in place of the self-fulfillment of the life that we are. It is barbarism, the new barbarism of our time, in place of culture. Inasmuch as it puts the prescriptions and regulations of life out of play, it is not simply barbarism in its most extreme and inhumane form that has ever been known – it is sheer madness.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Michel Henry, Barbarism, Continuum, 2012, p. 52
Books on Culture and Barbarism, Barbarism (1987)

Life, Way, Nature, Time

“Our people humanized the violent, inhumane slave plantation society that the British colonialists had established, (but) we are still faced with the insidious nature of a culture that is intended to dehumanize black people wherever black or blackness is found, and our parliaments therefore, while we shall be in the vanguard of removing all laws of discrimination, it is the mental emancipation that shall forever always matter.”

Mia Mottley (1965) prime minister of Barbados

Mia Mottley (2021) cited in: " Mia Mottley: Barbados’ first female leader on a mission to transform island https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/03/mia-mottley-barbados-first-female-leader-mission-to-transform-island" in The Guardian, 3 December 2021.

People, Law, Nature

“Respect is one of the most elegant and cultural choices a human being can make.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il rispetto è una delle scelte più eleganti e culturali che un essere umano possa fare.
Source: prevale.net

“Many girls are studying just for earning and employment, although the work of a woman is not Employment. This trend of employment of women is one reminiscence from the cursed reminiscences of western culture. Islam has placed the responsibility of providing income on men.”

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1889–1965) Caliph of the Messiah

Source: Anwarul Ulum, vol. 13, p. 94, Meri Sarah, p. 23

Women, Men, Girl, Study

“In most Asian-American families, if a son or daughter says they want to be in theater, nobody's embracing them for that. And that's a problem. Because when you're discouraging those people at that age, it reduces the number of participants in the cultural life of the community.”

Rick Shiomi (1947) Canadian writer

Source: On the cultural attitudes regarding youth who want to enter the arts in “Art Talk with Playwright & Director Rick Shiomi” https://www.arts.gov/art-works/2016/art-talk-playwright-director-rick-shiomi in Art Works Blog (2016 Mar 31)

Life, People, Age, Family

“It's a cultural mentality that is causing divisions, hatred and the consolidation of ignorance. Families are being destroyed, and it's getting worse because children themselves are being accused of being witches.”

José Manuel Imbamba (1965) Angolan Roman Catholic archbishop and university teacher

Pope in Angola: Fight superstition https://www.scross.co.za/2009/03/pope-in-angola-fight-superstition/ (21 March 2009)

Children, Family

“Who are our enemies and who are our friends? This is the first and foremost question of a revolution and it is also the first and foremost question of the great Cultural Revolution.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

1967
Directives Regarding the Cultural Revolution (1966-1972)

Question

“Introduction of this incubation center would help the students to develop entrepreneurship and internship culture, skill development, and job creation.”

Namita Priya

Source: [imdb.com, Namita Priya: I am an entertainer, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12364555/, 1 June, 2020]
Source: [goodreads.com, Namita Priya: goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/namitapriya, 15 August, 2020]

Help

“There are also blind spots in both cultures... there is no perfect culture. As we say, no one has the complete picture. We need each other to see more facets of who God really is and his call to us.”

Murray Chatlain (1963) Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Cultural diversity: a richness for the Church http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2013/12/21/cultural_diversity_a_richness_for_the_church_/en1-757749 (21 December 2013)

God, Perfection

“No material culture is found to move from west to east across the Indus.”

Jim G. Shaffer (1944) American archaeologist

in the relevant time period <br class="br">Source: Jim Shaffer. Personal communication (to K. Elst) during the 1996 Indus-Saraswati conference in Atlanta GA., quoted in Elst, Koenraad (1999). Update on the Aryan invasion debate https://web.archive.org/web/20100412074243/http://www.bharatvani.org/books/ait/ New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.

“‘A diffusion or migration of a culturally complex ‘Indo-Aryan‘ people into South Asia is not described by the archaeological record.‘”

Jim G. Shaffer (1944) American archaeologist

Source: Shaffer (1999:245), quoted in The Languages of Harappa. Witzel, Michael. Feb. 17, 2000.

People

“Churches and monasteries everywhere should not be seen only as "cultural treasures" needing to be preserved materially, but also with due respect for the conditions that enable Christian communities to practice their faith freely in those centres.”

Luciano Suriani (1957) Vatican archbishop and diplomat

Source: At The Service Of Dialogue And Peace https://cordmagazine.com/interview/archbishop-luciano-suriani-apostolic-nuncio-serbia-service-dialogue-peace/ (20 November 2017)

Faith, Communication

“Allow our common home to rest from our throw-away culture, our addiction to consumption, to unlimited economic growth, and to the dirty and deadly fossil fuels. Let us open ourselves to the new normal of interconnectedness and interrelatedness. We are in this together.”

Jose Romeo Lazo (1949) Filipino Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Philippine Church flags off Season of Creation https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-09/philippines-church-society-celebrate-season-creation.html (3 September 2020)

Home

“This is called the World Breath or ‘Seven’ Breath, and was much practised by the ancient Egyptians who were adepts at physical and physiological culture. Seven, as you know, plays an important part in the plan of the Universe which affects tnis Earth, as for instance, the 7 planets, 7 colours of the spectrum, 7 notes of music, 7 days of the week, etc. If we practise the Seven Breath every morning on awakening, we will tune ourselves in to the forces of growth and progress and derive great benefit and strength from so doing, provided we neither strain nor jerk.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XV The Essential Science of Breathing

World, Music, Jerk, Universe

“People who object to the by-product hypothesis [for female orgasm] are doing something strange: They're saying that it's hugely important to them that female orgasm turns out to be an adaptation, like vomiting, cobra venom, and the scorpion's stinger, rather than a "mere" cultural invention, like science, medicine, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Steve Stewart-Williams (1971)

Source: The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018), p. 59

People, Universe, Science

“Religious faith and its practice cannot be taken for granted and we must be resolved in our defense of our cherished freedom to practice our faith, especially in the context of a secular culture which many times is opposed to its basic beliefs. History has witnessed many instances of blatant disregard for religious liberty which has resulted in devastating persecution.”

Gerald Barbarito (1950) Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida

Source: This 'Fortnight for Freedom' https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/52207/this-fortnight-for-freedom (28 June 2012)

Faith, History, Freedom, Time

“When the intellect blends with experience, creativity, culture and curiosity, it forms a person of another level.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Quando l'intelletto si fonde con esperienza, creatività, cultura e curiosità, forma una persona di un altro livello.
Source: prevale.net

Personality

“The West has declared war on us, on the whole Russian world. The culture of canceling Russia and everything connected with our country is already reaching the point of absurdity.”

Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister

About the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022

War, World, Country

“It may possibly be urged the shape of a culture—its mores, evaluations, family organizations, eating habits, living patterns, pedagogical methods, institutions, forms of government, and so forth—arise from the economic necessities of its technology.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Waldo

Waldo (p. 134)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Family

“Stoicism, in our day, is not strength to overcome wishes, but to hide them.…Tendencies have become endemic in our culture for our denial of wishes to be rationalized and accepted with the belief that this denial of the wish will result in its being fulfilled.”

Rollo May book Love and Will

Source: Love and Will (1969), Ch. 10 : Intentionality in Therapy, p. 265

“Cultural work naturally must serve the cause of the People’s Democratic revolution and only then will it benefit the masses. It is most important in cultural work not to ignore the national traditions in form and to maintain its class character in content.”

Kyūichi Tokuda (1894–1953) Japanese politician

New Situation and the Policy of the Communist Party of Japan (1950)

People, Nature

“You should watch when you talk to young men about responsibility. They're so thrilled about it. It just blows me away. Really?! That's what the counter-culture is? Grow up and do something useful. "Really? I can do that? Oh, I'm so excited by that idea. No one ever mentioned that before."”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Rights, rights, rights, rights… Jesus! It's appalling. People have had enough of that. And they better have, because it's a non-productive mode of being. Responsibility, man: that's where the meaning in life is.
Other

Men, Idea

“How did a nation founded on so much heartache turn into a culture of normative smiles?”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Bittersweet, Chapter 5, title, at p. 117

Smile

“Freedom of speech cannot be a reason to incite racial or cultural discrimination and tear society apart. We hope Sweden can earnestly respect the religious beliefs of minority groups, including Muslims.”

Wang Wenbin (1971) Chinese diplomat

Wang Wenbin (2022) cited in " Respect religious beliefs of Muslims, China tells Sweden https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220420-respect-religious-beliefs-of-muslims-china-tells-sweden/" on Middle East Monitor, 20 April 2022.

Hope, Tear, Freedom

“Politics is downstream of culture.”

Andrew Breitbart (1969–2012) American writer and publisher

Courrielche: Conservatives' Next Frontier, Daily Wire

“If one rejects the Orthodox creed and the eastern ascetic experience of life in Christ, which has been acquired throughout the centuries, then Orthodox culture would be left with nothing but the Greek minor [key] and Russian tetraphony.”

Sophrony (Sakharov) (1896–1993) Russian monk, theologian and writer

Letter to D. Balfour.
Others

Life, Christ

“There are even more general points to be made about “cultural politics.””

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Despite appearances in the absurd and often comic debate about “political correctness”, the concept of high culture is not the possession of the political Right, nor does rejection of “post-modernism” and its essence, relativism (rejection of which is required for defence not just of the notion but of the value of high culture), amount to rejection of a progressive political perspective. Political resistance against hegemonies of wealth, class, race and sex in the late-twentieth-century Western world has mistakenly included rejection of the idea that there are cultural and intellectual values which transcend accidental boundaries in human experience, and thereby constitute a possession for the species as a whole. It has been a cheap source of reputation for “theorists” to claim that “reality is the product of discourse”, which means that different discourses constitute different realities, and therefore the truth and value are relative. Those who mistake the politics of resentment for the politics of justice find such views useful, because they equate “high culture” with “culture of the politically and economically dominant class, race or sex”, and therefore take it that attacks on the former are attacks on the latter. One disastrous consequence is that it allows the political Right to present itself as the defender of art, literature and free intellectual speculation, whereas historically yet has it has been the right—from Plato onwards—which has sought to repress the best human endeavours in these respects, on the grounds that art, literature and the unrestricted play of reason threaten to set people free and make them equal.
Rather than attacking the idea of a culture, therefore, reflective progressives (that is or should be a pleonasm) should assert their right to the high cultural terrain, and disentangle themselves from those aspects of movements, particularly in ethnic and sexual politics, whose tendency is not to promote the realisation of a just society but satisfaction of the petty appetite for revenge on groups perceived as historical oppressors.
A better aim for progressives would be to free high culture from the citadel of inaccessibility—mainly financial—into which dominant groups have kidnapped it. They should not commit all their attention to promoting counter-culture or “mass” culture, for the excellent reason that—especially in respect of this latter—much of which passes for “mass” culture is a means of manipulating majorities into quiescence and uncritical acceptance of political and economic conditions favorable to dominant groups. This is notably the case with escapist entertainment and sports.
Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 17, “Cultures” (pp. 74-75)

“Western culture is undergoing a process of transition from guilt-oriented, with a conscience, to shame-oriented, with a morbid fear of being found out.”

John Brunner book The Jagged Orbit

Source: The Jagged Orbit (1969), Chapter 3, “Spoolpigeon” (p. 10)

Fear

“There are different cultures, different ways of thinking, different ways of living the faith and of evangelizing, but we wish to love each other as brothers and sisters, respecting our legitimate differences, and valuing each other as gifts for the Church.”

Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel (1940) Mexican bishop

Celibacy is precious gift that not everyone understands, says Mexican bishop https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259/celibacy-is-precious-gift-that-not-everyone-understands-says-mexican-bishop (25 November 2003)

Love, Faith, Way, Thinking

“Don't forget: our media culture failed to serve the public interest by missing (with a few honourable exceptions) the two biggest stories of our time: the run-up to the Iraq war and the financial meltdown. We've had far too many autopsies and not enough biopsies.”

Arianna Huffington (1950) Greek-American author and syndicated columnist

"The paywall is history" The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/11/newspapers-web-media-pay-wall 11 May, 2009

War, Time, Forgetting

“It is the function of Tradition to assure continuity. Tradition is the memory of a superpersonal soul [of culture]. It must see that the same creative spirit of the grand past is present at each innovation.”

Francis Parker Yockey (1917–1960) American writer

Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics (1948)

Soul, Memory, Past

“Although we may be different in our look, ethnicity, culture, and clothing we are all the same and want the same – faith, hope and love. Our beliefs bind us so closely, that even though we come from various backgrounds we are able to live with each other in peace and harmony.”

Paul Hinder (1942) Roman Catholic bishop, Capuchin Friar

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ahead of Being on Papal Flight for United Arab Emirates, ZENIT Speaks with Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia Bishop Paul Hinder https://zenit.org/2019/02/03/exclusive-interview-ahead-of-being-on-papal-flight-for-united-arab-emirates-zenit-speaks-with-apostolic-vicar-of-southern-arabia-bishop-paul-hinder-2/ (3 February 2019)

Love, Peace, Faith, Hope

“The attitude that living things are placed here for our benefit still dominates our culture, even where its underpinnings have disappeared. We now need, for purposes of scientific understanding, to find a less human-centered view of the natural world.”

Richard Dawkins book Climbing Mount Improbable

Source: Climbing Mount Improbable (1996), Chapter 8, “Pollen Grains and Magic Bullets” (p. 258)

World, Understanding, Nature

“Our culture idolizes athletes, and God has really blessed my career. But at the end of the day, you want something that's eternal. We were made for so much more than fame or power, and coming to that realization has really made me say, "God, you know that’s best for me and that's what I want, too."”

Christina Wirth (1987) American basketball player

Friendship, Faith and Free Throws: Two professional basketball players to become full-time Catholic missionaries http://site.focus.org/news-for-you/february/friendship-faith-freethrows.html (2013)

God

“Even while filming we knew how important it was that we get this opportunity to showcase our culture and our uniqueness, but also, as human beings, our stories, our emotions, and, at the end of the day, our humanity.”

Fala Chen (1982) Hong Kong actress

"Fala Chen Is Bringing Her Excellence to Hollywood" in Town & Country https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a37223279/fala-chen-jiang-li-shang-chi-marvel-interview/ (1 September 2021)

“The strength of America is our diversity of people, ethnicities, cultures, languages, religions — this is the secret sauce of our dynamism and resilience.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Gary Locke keynotes anti-hate summit" in Northwest Asian Weekly https://nwasianweekly.com/2021/10/gary-locke-keynotes-anti-hate-summit/ (29 October 2021)

People, Secret, Religion

“We are always open to new ideas. The incredible diversity from around the world, and that constant infusion of new ideas, cultures and perspectives, is what really makes our region so dynamic and exciting.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Interview with Former Governor Gary Locke" https://greater-seattle.com/en/2020/06/11/interview-with-former-governor-gary-locke/ (11 June 2020)

World, Idea

“We must retain the positive values of our culture and use them to bring people to God. The habits of revenge and conflicts among tribes must be stopped. Love your neighbors and put your faith in Christ.”

Eduardus Sangsun (1943–2008) Indonesian bishop (1943-2008)

Diocese of Ruteng Welcomes New Bishop https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/1985/04/24/diocese-of-ruteng-welcomes-new-bishop&post_id=32959 (24 April 1985)

Love, God, People, Faith

“It exposed, I thought, a lot of aspects of this society we have which are not terribly positive — toxic masculinity, victim culture. Liberal hypocrisy, I think, was the big loser.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Toxic Femininity (2022)

Thinking

“In the real world, equal respect for all cultures doesn’t translate into a rich mosaic of colorful and proud peoples interacting peacefully while maintaining a delightful diversity of food and craftwork. It translates into closed pockets of oppression, ignorance, and abuse.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Conclusion: The Miyé and the Magaalo (p. 261)
2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010)

People, World, Food, Color

“But the more pressing business is what feminists can do to prevent an alien culture of oppression from taking root in the West.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author

Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 15, “Dishonor, Death, and Feminists” (p. 231)

Business

“We need to see how dance, music, theater, art, poetry, are major arenas for alliance-building, especially among youth. Culture can usher in new visions”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (2017)

Youth, Art, Music, Dance

“In the early 1900s, while colonization continued, the original Mexican population of the Southwest was greatly increased by an immigration the continues today. This combination of centuries-old roots and relatively new ones gives the Mexican-American people a rich and varied cultural heritage.”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (2017)

People

“The problem is that Hollywood is competition for Chinese art films. So I thought I should make a film with box office promise, that refers to Chinese culture, but also contains an art element.”

Zhang Yimou (1950) Chinese actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer

"Fighting for Peace (and Art Films), Zhang Yimou on “Hero”" in Indie Wire https://www.indiewire.com/2004/08/fighting-for-peace-and-art-films-zhang-yimou-on-hero-78697/ (27 August 2004)

Art, Problem, Box

“People claiming that some fundamental right is foreign to their culture—that stinks no matter who says it, fundamentalists, patriarchs, Leninists, metanats, I don’t care who. They aren’t going to get away with it here, not if I can help it.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 3, “A New Constitution” (pp. 128-129)

People, Help

“The history of national defense and building with untold sweat and bloods has forged a Vietnam's vitality, a distinct cultural identity, a resilient internal strength for development, and a capability to adapt herself to the times and harmoniously co-exist with other nations in the world.”

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (1949) Prime Minister of Vietnam

"Deputy Pm Nguyen Tan Dung Speaks At John Hopkins University" https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/relations/deputy-pm-nguyen-tan-dung-speaks-john-hopkins-university (10 December 2021)

World, History, Time

“... the huge business of education is not on speaking terms with culture and such culture as we now have is not on speaking terms with reality.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

Education, Business, Reality

“As a people we remain comparative strangers to our own life in our own time in our own home: native culture waiting in vain on our door step.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

Life, People, Home, Time

“But soon this saving virtue appeared to me in our disgraceful dilemma: Realization that any true cultural significance our American free society could know lay in the proper use of the machine as a tool and used only as a tool.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

Appearance

“Material culture including “a cult of the horse” moves from the eastern slopes of the Urals to Central Asia, but: “There is no evidence that they reached India.””

Elena Efimovna Kuzmina (1931–2013) Russian archaeologist

Elena Kuzmina, Origin of the Indo-Iranians (Brill, Leiden). quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2018), p.452. Still no trace of an Aryan invasion: A collection on Indo-European origins.

Horse

“Cultural products which present women who do not want to be household slaves or universal mothers or sex objects as bitches or sexual failures objectively aid male supremacy.”

Meredith Tax (1942) American writer

Source: "Culture is not Neutral, Whom Does it Serve?" (1972), p. 15

Women, Sex, Failure, Universe

“Cultural products that present people who have no money or power as innately stupid or depraved, and thus unworthy of money or power, are in the interests of the ruling class and the power structure as it stands.”

Meredith Tax (1942) American writer

Source: "Culture is not Neutral, Whom Does it Serve?" (1972), p. 15

Money, People, Stupidity

“Cultural products which present foreign wars as the heroic effort of a master race to ennoble mankind are, to the degree they are successful as art, objectively in the interests of imperialists, who are people who make foreign wars against other races for profit.”

Meredith Tax (1942) American writer

Source: "Culture is not Neutral, Whom Does it Serve?" (1972), p. 15

War, People, Art, Effort

“Why does The Holocaust persist in haunting our conscience? Why does it dominate the introspection of philosophers and historians alike? By the numbers alone, the murders were not unprecedented. At that juncture of 20th Century history, Stalin and Lenin had already brutally murdered tens of millions. The Holocaust fascinates not because of its numbers, but because of the means employed. At no point in time had an entire society dedicated its full might to the perpetual elimination of those unwanted elements of the population. Every aspect of Hitler’s National Socialism was geared towards cleansing and improving the breeding stock of Germania. Hitler’s National Socialist government was focused on the breeding, education, and training of a “master race.” The social, cultural, legislative, and industrial mechanisms of Hitler’s National Socialism were designed to perpetually “select” its populace. The central planners of National Socialism would “select” those that would live, those that would die, and those that would be sterilized slave labor. National Socialism was intended to have the “total” control to decide who would be allowed to procreate, and as a result, those that would be allowed to contribute to Hitler’s ideal society.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: H.H. LAUGHLIN: American Scientist. American Progressive. Nazi Collaborator.

Education, History, Time, Training

“People and families and cultures and religions and government organizations and educational sources and forms of entertainment have all been indoctrinating you with the false idea that marriage is the most important relationship you will have. And that the romantic pair bond is the only relationship in which your needs can be met.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Marriage, People, Education, Family

“The cultured is curious. The ignorant, arrogant and conceited.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Il colto è curioso. L'ignorante, arrogante e presuntuoso.
Source: prevale.net

“The ignorant often sin of education, arrogance and presumption. For his it is normal behave like this because he is not used to acquiring culture, according to him he is born wise and generally due to his closed nature he dies always together with his ignorance.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: L'ignorante pecca spesso di educazione, arroganza e presunzione. Per lui è normale comportarsi così perché non è abituato ad acquisire cultura, secondo lui nasce saggio e generalmente per la sua natura chiusa muore sempre insieme alla sua ignoranza.
Source: prevale.net

Education, Nature

“I spoke the other day to the art historian Vanni Scheiwiler who publishes in Milan. But Signor Scheiwiler is pessimistic; he says that under the influence of the new conformism the city, after all the cultural centre of Italy, has been undergoing a decline in intellectual vitality. Anyone who comes up with something that does not fit in with the line is promptly put down by being called a Fascist. The word Fascist is reported so often that one wonders whether it hasn’t lost all meaning! This reminded me of what Ignazio Silone said in 1945 soon after he returned to Italy from his Zurich exile: “The fascism of tomorrow will never say ‘I am Facism’. It will say: ‘I am anti-Facism’.””

Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) Italian author and politician

Source: https://books.google.de/books?id=CPdKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT250 PT250 books.google <br class="br">Source: François Bondy: Italian Censorship (European Notebook). Encounter Band 47, No. 2 (1976) August, p. 51 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=iS0dAQAAMAAJ&q=silone; Reprint in: European Notebooks 1954-1985, Routledge, New York 2017,

Art

“The intelligent woman, will always be attracted by gentleness, sympathy, elegance, culture and respect. Not by appearance.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La donna intelligente, sarà sempre attratta da dolcezza, simpatia, eleganza, cultura e rispetto. Non dall'apparenza.
Source: prevale.net

Intelligence, Appearance

“The intelligent woman, will always be attracted by gentleness, sympathy, elegance, culture and respect. Not by appearance.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La donna intelligente, sarà sempre attratta da dolcezza, simpatia, eleganza, cultura e rispetto. Non dall'apparenza.
Source: prevale.net

Intelligence, Appearance

“Nowadays there are lucky people to have parents with healthy principles. I am very grateful to mine for teaching me education, honesty and their great culture.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Oggigiorno esistono persone fortunate ad avere genitori con sani princìpi. Sono molto grato ai miei per avermi insegnato l'educazione, l'onestà e la loro grande cultura.
Source: prevale.net

People, Education, Parent

“The beauty of a woman is a combination of values: intellect, sympathy, sensuality, physique, simplicity, sweetness, charm, elegance, transgression, passion and culture. Values that make it unique in its nature.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La bellezza di una donna è una combinazione di valori: intelletto, simpatia, sensualità, fisico, semplicità, dolcezza, fascino, eleganza, trasgressione, passione e cultura. Valori che la rendono unica nella sua natura.
Source: prevale.net

Beauty, Nature, Passion

This quote waiting for review.

“I must say that in Chile, the supremacy of the Market as the all-powerful governing body has made the development of the cultural field even more difficult than in Mexico.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: http://letras.mysite.com/jbar050923.html

This quote waiting for review.

“Latin American government decisions, in general terms, discourage the development of the arts, turning artists into true martyrs of a cause, creating a vicious cycle in which ordinary people fail to notice the importance of cultural development, focusing on money as the axis of their lives.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: https://www.peruinforma.com/entrevista-cultural-al-escritor-chileno-jose-baroja/

Money, People, Art, Decision

“Music is an art form borns of inspiration and creativity; it's a set of sounds and harmonies in motion able to creating a universal language that exceed cultural and social barriers.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La musica è una forma d'arte che nasce dall'ispirazione e dalla creatività; è un insieme di suoni e armonie in movimento in grado di creare un linguaggio universale che supera le barriere culturali e sociali.
Source: prevale.net

Art, Music, Universe

This quote waiting for review.

“School modernizes through procedures, metrics, and technologies, while at the same time becoming culturally impoverished.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: Cuando la escuela dejó de pensar. By José Baroja. (2026b, mayo 25). Le Monde Diplomatique. https://www.lemondediplomatique.cl/cuando-la-escuela-dejo-de-pensar-por-jose-baroja.html

School, Time

This quote waiting for review.

“The teaching crisis did not begin when resignations increased or when schools started having difficulties hiring professionals; it began much earlier: when society started to change, quietly yet persistently, the way it understood the cultural value of those who educate.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: La sociedad que olvidó a sus profesores. Por José Baroja. (2026, 13 junio). Le Monde Diplomatique. https://www.lemondediplomatique.cl/la-sociedad-que-olvido-a-sus-profesores-por-jose-baroja.html

Education, School, Way, Change

“Remaining silent in the face of incorrect or rude behavior risks legitimizing them, transforming silence into a form of complicity. Reacting clearly and effectively is essential both to protect yourself, both to promote a culture based on respect.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Restare in silenzio di fronte a comportamenti scorretti o maleducati rischia di legittimarli, trasformando il silenzio in una forma di complicità. Reagire in modo chiaro ed efficace è essenziale sia per proteggersi, sia per promuovere una cultura basata sul rispetto.
Source: prevale.net

Behavior, Silence

Quotes about culture page 36

Quotes about culture
page 36