Dinesh D'Souza Quotes

Before doing 'Midnight's Children,' I didn't really have a chance to explore my Indian side. The Indian side of my heritage was always present, but it did not particularly define my identity. Being English was more an identity-defining status. I was born and brought up in London. Yes, my father is Parsi.

I love my heritage both as someone who grew up as a Muslim and as an Indian - it's part of who I am and I would never deny it.

I really didn't grow up religious, and I didn't grow up acknowledging my Muslim identity. For me, I was a British Pakistani.

I was born and raised in China, and my parents were missionaries.

The African-American tradition, in the main, is very, very church-based, very, very Christian. It accepts, you know, certain narratives about the world. I didn't really have that present in my house.

What it depends on is someone's upbringing and the traditions and that is how you decide if you are Jewish or not.

Mythology is part of our heritage, part of our identity at times because anywhere in India you will find the name of Rama or Krishna in one or the other form.

My full name is Ross Fleming Butler; it's very British-Irish.

I am a pakka South Indian at heart.

For me, psychologically, I am very much an Indian.

Even I, when I was a student in London, often wore Western clothes, and yet I'm the most Indian Indian I know.

I'm always very careful to say I'm Irish-Ethiopian because I feel Ethiopian and I look Ethiopian and I am Ethiopian. But there are 81 languages in Ethiopia, and I don't know any of them.

I am white. I am Jewish. I am an immigrant. I am a Russian American. But until recently I haven't focused so much on those parts of my identity. I've always thought of myself simply as a normal, unhyphenated American.

Lucknow, as far as I have heard, is always known for its culture, literature and poetry. So it has set a cultural benchmark for the entire country.

I just grew up in the States, so I feel like I identify more with the American culture.

As a child growing up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, my connection to my Indian roots came from summer visits to New Delhi where my grandparents lived.

I am a full Parsi born and brought up in South Mumbai.

My mom was Roman Catholic, my dad was part of.

As my parents are from India, I am told a lot of positive things about the country, the culture and traditions of Muslims in India. I don't remember anything nasty told to me by my parents.

I think when I say my county, it is always India.

My father, who is deeply spiritual and religious, always stressed that my siblings and I remain true to our Indian roots.

My mother and father were born and raised in Pakistan, where religion is entrenched in the culture and the culture is explicitly unyielding.

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

I come from a Muslim family. The label 'Muslim' is one aspect of me, but it's not the only part of me.

The thing about India is that even if the economic backgrounds are different, the cultural background is the same. Somebody who is working as a tailor will also tie a black thread around his kid's wrist; so will somebody in Bollywood. That's the fun of being Indian.