Quotes About Belonging

Whoso belongs only to his own age, and reverences only its gilt Popinjays or soot-smeared Mumbojumbos, must needs die with it.

I grew up in an isolated town, out in the middle of the Mojave Desert in the middle of a naval base. My family was one of the only South Asian families in this town. We felt it. We knew.

I've been to so many parties in England and in America that's exactly like that, where you're kind of, like, seen as Other. When you're just living your life, and you have to adopt the Other in order to understand and navigate the society.

'Atlanta' is really trying to put that out there: these are just the lives of these people in this city, and this city is its own breathing, living thing, too. So how do you navigate through life, especially with dreams and aspirations in a world that tells you that you don't deserve to have them.

My grandmother's mother was from near Naples, so I love Italy, but I feel completely Argentinian.

I was born at Rotten Row in Glasgow and brought up in Loch Lomond near a small place called Gartocharn. And it's a bit like anyone: where you're brought up, you have an irresistible attraction to that place; it defines who you are.

In a funny way, nothing makes you feel more like a native of your own country than to live where nearly everyone is not.

The Boys and Girls club was basically a second home for me, and I always credit it with keeping me out of trouble. From the ages of 6 to 16, I was there nearly every day.

I still can't shake the Nebraska off of me.

What was important to me was that I represented Nebraska.

I don't necessarily feel like I'm American. I wouldn't know what that feels like.

I'd like to have a neck. Everyone else has a neck, but I never got one; I don't know what happened. I'm not asking for much: just some sort of separation between my head and my body would be great.

We have a really rich and diverse heritage in my family - but I sometimes felt it was a bit of a chain round my neck in the Labour party if truth be told.

That's what I love about geeks, that they can call themselves a geek and be proud of it. I love that. I even have a necklace with the word 'geek' spelled out in rhinestones, and I'm very proud, myself.

As human beings, we need to know that we are not alone, that we are not crazy or completely out of our minds, that there are other people out there who feel as we do, live as we do, love as we do, who are like us.

Even when I was at school, I wanted to be liked by everyone, even the bullies. I didn't like them, but I needed to know that they liked me.

When I was a kid... I needed to belong.

I have a big thing about needing to know that I belong - in my group of friends, in my family, in my industry.

It's a clique that I've never been a part of. It's not like I identify them in a negative way.

When you're part of a society where you're constantly having to define your identity and sort of negotiate with what the mainstream culture thinks you are, you have less energy and time to figure out who you are when you go home at night.

That's the potential power of a single voice - a neighbor's, a teacher's, a parent's, a friend's. It can change you, make you feel as if you have a place in the world.

I'm an Irish-American, and I grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood.

I was the freak who moved into the nice neighborhood.

Within the black community, I'm definitely a neighborhood celebrity.