Marjane Satrapi Quotes

There will be no room, here, for the smug myopia which views American civilization as the final solution to all world problems; which recommends our institutions for universal adoption and turns away with contempt from the serious study of the institutions of peoples whose civilizations may seem to us to be materially less advanced.

The people with the passports, the people who travel more, tend to be the most understanding. And it's ironic that the people who travel the least have the strongest opinions about the people they've never met.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.

The joy of tasting different cultures is it gives you a broad perspective, and you don't judge people from stereotypical characters you see in films.

I think an awful lot of the diplomatic problems that exist in the world come from people assuming that their society is the one with a purchase on truth.

People have to start talking to know more about other cultures and to understand each other.

I've learned a lot about good and evil. They are not always what they appear to be.

What 'True Blood' does really well is that it balances on the line between good and evil - you blur the distinction between the two.

I'm a British intern going in. I'm hoping that John will just kind of tackle it from who this person is and what she's about rather than trying to go in on her culture. We need to move a step forward than that.

I think that part of being a good journalist, part of being an awake member of the world you're in, is to view yourself as an outsider, and I always have, to some degree.

I'm glad I was faced with different cultures when I was growing up because I wasn't fazed by it. It has been a huge benefit to me; I feel comfortable wherever I go.

I don't think good and evil are polarized.

My children have been all over the world, and I think it's so good for them: expanding their horizons and imagination and seeing how other people live.

Travel early and travel often. Live abroad, if you can. Understand cultures other than your own. As your understanding of other cultures increases, your understanding of yourself and your own culture will increase exponentially.

I was a lot more cultured than the other kids in my high school. Because I traveled, I understood different cultures and had a more worldly view. Most of the people I went to high school with had never been outside of California.

The adequate study of culture, our own and those on the opposite side of the globe, can press on to fulfillment only as we learn today from the humanities as well as from the scientists.

Going to another country you're not in your house, you're with people you've never met before, and I think it's definitely a good growing experience.

The one thing I've learned, getting out to all those foreign and domestic locales, is that people in every country of the 'civilized' world wish - either secretly or openly - that they had the expressiveness, the flair, the I'm-so-glad-to-be-me spirit that black folks have made a part of American life.

Life isn't one-dimensional. The world isn't simply divided into good versus evil. I think we're all capable of both.

You develop a sympathy for all human beings when you travel a lot.

Being an American is such a rich environment, because there's so many people from other countries and cultures, and through that you're able to see other people's experiences.

The United States is very good at understanding itself, and very bad at understanding others.

Our modern world, though infinitely more complex than that of ancient Greece, is also far more superficial. Where the Greeks offered simple psychological training, we live in an age of style and spin in which perceptions of good and evil slither and shift with the political view of the moment.

As an actor, you come in contact with so many different people and cultures. It makes you a more accepting person.

It's only a drawback in the States, where most people seem to have no real interest in other countries and the notion of a novel which might offer insight into life in the UK doesn't seem to appeal very widely.