Quotes About Culture

Until you have wasted time in a city, you cannot pretend to know it well.

I never paid much attention to being Jewish when I was a kid. In fact, I'd say my religion was more surfing than Judaism - that's what I spent most of my time doing.

Sometimes people have a difficult time understanding my English.

I have much clearer memories of my time in Egypt: songs on the radio, the rhythms that accompanied belly dancers, the sound of the adhan - the Muslim call to prayer. I just soaked it all up.

In a lot of African instruments, you find a rattle, and sound engineers have a hard time making sense of it.

By the time writing was invented, the Greeks and Egyptians had already learned to extract opium from poppies to facilitate sleep.

My peers at the time: you know, young black kids from off the streets of Harlem, having these conversations with me in my small, dirty little studio up in Harlem.

What I felt at that time - we're talking about '61 - was that I couldn't remember seeing a film that reflected the age we were living in.

I didn't spend much time in America, which probably was a mistake. To someone else, having a number one in America would be enough to get them touring.

Take it from somebody who has been around for a million years: When you get right down to it, food is practically the whole story every time.

I recall that, the first time I met a Geordie speaker, it was some days before I could understand a single word he was saying.

I fell in love with Paris the first time I went.

A lot of jazz is like that; it sells over a period of time.

I had lived in France before graduate school, but because of Spain, I had a lot of the characters go and spend a good bit of time in Spain.

I love playing in Japan! It's always like being in the ancient past and the future at the same time. And the fans sing along to every word.

"Pop" was a dirty word for a really long time and it feels like that's not the case anymore.

In an automobile civilization, which was one of constant motion and activity, there was almost no time to think; in a television one, there is small desire.

I grew up watching foreign programs - American, English, Mexican, and very little Kenyan. 'The Color Purple' was the first time I saw people who looked like me.

The American is said to become full-flavored, and in time a most all-round man, through the polish which Europe can impart.

National education to be truly national must reflect the national condition for the time being.

It's huge in the U.K., if someone's doing well, to put them down. That's what we do all the time. It's kind of like a cultural thing.

America is a very special place. In this country, you have the best and the worst at the same time. Whatever you can imagine.

Arts are what free and thriving people do with their time after their critical needs have been met.

Every time a shaman dies, it is as if a library burned down.