Bruce Feiler Quotes

Believing in each culture's right to be understood by the other party without any form of falseness or distortion is paramount.

I don't think that people understand enough about each other's cultures any more.

Wherever you go, respect the local culture or you will suffer.

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

Now it is evident that a little insight into the customs of every people is necessary to insure a kindly communication; this, joined with patience and kindness, will seldom fail with the natives of the interior.

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.

In some ways England is more liberal than France, but I also find it more intrusive. But when you go abroad you have to accept the ways of where you live. I have to respect that.

I try to study the background of the country I am in and what were my hits there, so I can at least give them some of what they want. It's like a wedding - give them something old, something new, something borrowed and definitely something blue!

… technologies that convene different cultures do not always help them interact peaceably.

Travelers learn not just foreign customs and curious cuisines and unfamiliar beliefs and novel forms of government. They learn, if they are lucky, humility.

Africa doesn't leap on you immediately; it seeps slowly, and it's incredibly important to be respectful and humble there.

If you're playing with somebody from another idiom, you can't react to them in the same way that you react to somebody that is closer to your idiom. You don't fall into the same habits. You find a new way of communicating.

The two cultures of East and West are very different, and the priorities are very different. So when you understand that - if you are from this side or this side - when you understand that the other is different than you, and you respect these differences, you can build communication.

Globalization means we have to re-examine some of our ideas, and look at ideas from other countries, from other cultures, and open ourselves to them. And that's not comfortable for the average person.

Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

I don't think anyone could write about another culture and get it 100 percent accurate.

I've got tremendous respect for different cultures, for the food and everything.

After September 11, 2001, I was feeling like I really wanted more understanding between cultures. It seemed to me that so much of what happened on September 11 was because people didn't understand each other and were suspicious of each other.

Value the perspective of different cultures and recognize the cultural mores that underpin groups and appreciate why these are valued and important.

China is a company of contradictions. Nothing is what it appears to be. We have to be extremely respectful when we go overseas.

National culture can act as a bridge, instead of an obstacle, to mutual spiritual and intellectual understanding.

I thought I knew everything when I came to Rome, but I soon found I had everything to learn.

Cultural differences can be delicate situations we have to work within the respectful boundaries of.

I think when you move to a country like the U.S., you need to understand the culture, to understand how people see the game, and adapt yourself.

I think that we in the West expect people to adapt to our culture very, very quickly when they come to our country. But when we go over to someone else's, I don't think we are willing to meet them halfway like we expect them to meet us. I think having cultural sensitivity is a lot more important than we realize.