Tom Stoppard Quotes

I'm really trying to dredge up what one might call intellectual and moral material. For example, when do you realize that you are an American? What age does that happen to you? When do you realize what religion your parents practice? When does it all become conscious? I was interested in exploring all of that.

We all have to consciously make efforts to identify our roots and nurture them.

I'm slowly feeling more Chinese and feel I should be more proud of being Chinese and appreciate where I've come from.

A man's ethnic identity has more to do with a personal awareness than with geography.

Peoplehood tends to develop into nationhood if the people achieves a certain maturity. This is analogous to an individual person who becomes acquainted with herself only in the course of her life, without being able to say that she possessed no personal uniqueness at all before that 'self-recognition.'

As a child, I didn't even realize I was Chinese. I was Singaporean, but my identity was wrapped up in the culture I was experiencing every day.

I don't really know what feeling Japanese or Haitian or American is supposed to feel like. I just feel like me.

I'm a whole lot more than just Spanish or Irish or whatever, but definitely, it's given me help. It's given me a push, and I'm very proud of my Spanish heritage.

Now that I'm older, I appreciate my culture and I appreciate Spanish. I feel bad I didn't pick up on it earlier.

Most of my life I was occupied with American television and American food. My ethnicity was my choice. It still is.

The reason man does not experience his true cultural self is that until he experiences another self as valid he has little basis for validating his own self.

There are Latino people in our world who believe strongly that if you are Latino you should speak the language, you should eat the food, you should listen to the music, you should be proud. And when you don't do those things, some people will look at it as if you're neglecting who you are.

I have tried my whole life to represent my Mexican roots with honor and pride.

So many times I've encountered people who are just kind of like, 'Yeah, Nigeria,' and, you know, thump their chest and seem very sure of, like, being Nigerian. And I'm just kind of, like, I wish I could be that sure.

I have been aware since my youth that I am a Hebrew through my mother, and that is something that has played a subtle but important role in my development.

My great grandparents are Scottish, and I have this very tenuous connection which I try and bump up whenever I can, because I'd much rather be Scottish than English.

The greatest guarantee for the preservation of a person’s identity is language and faith, and all Armenians must carry these two values.

National identity is something that's directly connected to our personal experiences and the decisions we make, the roads we decide to take at certain points in our life.

For me, being an 'American Latina' means identifying with and being influenced by both my American upbringing and my Latin heritage, and I have so much appreciation for how those two cultures have created who I am.

I think by embracing your heritage and your history, it just serves you so much more, and you become a deeper and more powerful person by embracing them.

I think my Latino culture has equipped me with a different point of view than the rest of my counterparts, and seeing things from a different angle has helped me a lot. I feel very proud of my culture, of my Latino heritage.

When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.

I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although I didn't know anything about it.

An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.

I feel so Scottish when I go abroad, and I'm so proud of it, but for me, it's not a political statement - I just happen to be Scottish.