Quotes About Assimilation

Writing voice isn't as much a function of thinking as it is something that eludes definition and therefore assimilation.  The more artful flavors of prose are more often a function of intuition and imitation fused with heart and wit and delivered with a strong does of lyric sensibility. It

Marco Polo aprendeu a ultrapassar a sua condição de estrangeiro no Império Mongol, para chegar à conclusão de que, agora que estava em casa, tinha-se tornado uma vez mais um estrangeiro.

We moderns have no culture to call our own. We fill ourselves with foreign customs, arts, philosophies, religions and sciences: we are wandering encyclopaedias." (Use and Abuse of History) The point is to assimilate the past, to use it in the making of our own life and culture. History is a dead weight on the present.

It is in the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates every thing to itself, as proper nourishment; and, from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger by every thing you see, hear, read, or understand.

It is the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has conceived it, that it assimulates every thing to itself as proper nourishment; and, from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger by every thing you see, hear, read, or understand.

this was the first reason he came to love her: because she had blended in so perfectly, because she had seemed so completely and utterly at home.

Only when he's left Chinatown, and the faces around him become Black and white instead of Asian, do the flags become more sporadic, the people here apparently more confident that their loyalty will be assumed.

Yet after seven years at Harvard—four as an undergrad, three and counting as a graduate student—nothing had changed. Without realizing why, he studied the most quintessentially American subject he could find—cowboys—but he never spoke of his parents, or his family. He still had few acquaintances and no friends. He still found himself shifting in his seat, as if at any moment someone might notice him and ask him to leave.

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.

When you go to Rome, do as Rome does. Rome will be a ugly customer to you, if you don't. I'm your Rome, you know.

evening, they began to think that although he could never hope to be an Englishman, still it would be hard to visit that affliction on his head. They began to accommodate themselves to his level, calling him 'Mr Baptist,' but treating him like a baby, and laughing immoderately at his lively gestures and his childish English—more,

We remember stories more easily and more completely than we do facts. We assimilate stories differently, bringing to them the shades of understanding made possible by our own experiences, finding something new each time we approach even one that has long been familiar. A story is like a multifaceted jewel, giving off a different light each time it is turned.

Some of us are just better at nodding along to the music we're supposed to be hearing. From 'Or She Dies'.

We have made a conscious effort to blend in with U.S. society and have done our best to develop good English skills. Today, both Johanna and I communicate in English with ease, and our children speak English at native fluency levels, but we continue to speak Icelandic at home.

Usté me va a perdonar, pero apenas entiendo lo que dice. A nosotros ya no nos gusta hablar la lengua mexicana.» ¿Cuánto se perdió en el camino para que esa mujer se haya alienado de su idioma y por tanto, de su identidad? Tú la hubieras reprendido. La lengua es el último baluarte de la resistencia.

It is the concern of every immigrant that their offspring will grow to embrace their adoptive culture at the expense of their natural heritage.

But a smart Mexican comes into this country with the understanding gabachos will always dismiss them as idiots. To get ahead, then, many Mexicans pretend not to recognize English so their gabacho bosses can entrust them with all the company secrets—codes, financial figures, and the all-important personal telephone number of the secretary.

The first generation of immigrants commit themselves to a lifetime of labor, not assimilation—that's the job of the children.

Speak Spanish, get accused of separatism. Speak English, get laughed at for thick accents and limited vocabularies. Many Mexicans speak English to Mexican workers out of gratitude—the fast-food counter is the only place Mexicans can feel like Americans by speaking the shared language of haggling with Mexican workers over the cost of fries.

Chicano: The poorer, stupider, more assimilated cousins of Mexicans. Otherwise known as a Mexican-American. George López is such a Chicano with his unfunny jokes.

Pocho: An Americanized Mexican.

Tellingly, the Latinos who frequented his stand eschewed the tacos in favor of hot dogs and hamburgers. He racked up sales that opening day, but no one wanted the tacos. Finally, a white man ordered one, mispronouncing it as "take-oh." The shell was already cold, waiting for its fillings; Bell prepared it and handed it to the gentleman. Juice from the ground beef inside dribbled on his pinstriped suit, but the man ordered another. Bell was ecstatic.

The United States in the 1890s was in the midst of a tamale man invasion that strolled hand in hand with the chili con carne craze.

The Brandreth Rule is: when in Rome, do as the Romans do—speak English.