Quotes About Belonging

As he did not go into Society himself, he had got an idea that these things belonged to the things that didn't really matter. (We know of course that he was wrong, and took too narrow a view; because they do matter very much, though it would take too long to explain why.)

Shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished, and yet his, the home he had made for himself, the home he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work. And the home had been happy with him, too, evidently, and was missing him, and wanted him back, and was telling him so, through his nose, sorrowfully, reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger; only with plaintive reminder that it was there, and wanted him.

It's brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and (naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.

But it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.

And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!' 'By it and with it and on it and in it,' said the Rat. 'It's brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and (naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.

One final note: in this book I say "we" a lot. No matter who you are, you will probably encounter at least one "we" to which your reaction is "not me." And maybe that's true. But that reaction illustrates a theme of the book, which is that the basic American struggle is over who is an insider and who an outsider—who comes within the most fundamental "we": We the People.

Just because your people have lived here for a long time doesn't make it yours. Do you have a deed?

I doona want to be loved because I'm Undead. No more than ye would want to be rejected for being mortal.

If a person is measured by the regard they're shown by others, then maybe I'm not a person after all.

The kids were happy. They had added another to their numbers. They didn't want to set the world on fire. They just wanted to be less alone in it.

But it is important to know this, to know your roots. To know where you started as a person. If not, your own life seems unreal to you. Like a puzzle. Vous comprenez? Like you have missed the beginning of a story and now you are in the middle of it, trying to understand.

He said that if culture is a house, then language was the key to the front door; to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.

I brought Hassan's son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty

But it is important to know this, to know your roots. To know where you started as a person. If not, your own life seems unreal to you.

I used to picture us as two leaves, blowing miles apart in the wind yet bound by the deep tangled roots of the tree from which we had both fallen.

She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing; that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.

The kinship I felt suddenly for the old land . . . it surprised me . . . I thought I had forgotten about this land. But I hadn't. . . . Maybe Afghanistan hadn't forgotten me either.

if culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door, to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without proper home or a legimate identity.

He said I would appreciate later the gift he was giving me. He said that if culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door, to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.

She was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home..

But it is important to know this, to know your roots. To know where you started as a person. If not, your own life seems unreal to you. Like a puzzle.

He said that if culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door, to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.

Notaba el frío del suelo bajo los pies descalzos y, de pronto, por primera vez desde que habíamos cruzado la frontera, sentí que estaba de vuelta en casa. Después de todos aquellos años, estaba de nuevo en casa, pisando la tierra de mis antepasados.

Tak usah pedulikan semua itu. Karena sejarah tak akan mudah disangkal. Begitu pula agama. Pada akhirnya aku adalah seorang Pashtun dan dia seorang Hazara, aku seorang Sunni dan dia seorang Syi'ah, dan tidak ada yang bisa mengubahnya. Tidak ada.