Olga Tokarczuk Quotes

I always needle a bit when people say I'm a champion of the Poles, because I've always had a very multinational view of Poland.

I see America has infused you with the optimism that has made her so great

We deny in the most positive language that this is an Anglo-Saxon nation. We deny that England is the mother country, and we deny that the great progress and achievements of this country have been brought about solely through the efforts and influence of the Puritans.... All Europe is our mother, not England.

The coming of age of Canadian culture may not depend on our ability to protect it at home, but to project it on the world’s stage.

It is a myth that most people throughout the world hate America. They hate the American government and the American military …. They love American culture—they have made it the world’s culture.

We should not check American ideals at the door when we engage in discussions with other nations.

It is the fight for national existence which sets culture moving and opens to it the doors of creation. Later on it is the nation which will ensure the conditions and framework necessary to culture

Cultural goods … are the source of the Nation's identity, continuity and development.

A Pole must accept everything Polish, both good and bad,..

Like many foreign students when they go abroad, I was instantly thrust into a position of having to explain and defend my country. That is a very common predicament.

The separation of the Western man from the seaboard, and his environment, made him in a large degree free from European precedents and forces. He looked at things independently and with small regard or appreciation for the best Old World experience. He had no ideal of a philosophical, eclectic nation, that should advance civilization by intercourse with foreigners and familiarity with their point of view, and readiness to adopt whatever is best and most suitable in their ideas, manners, and customs

America’s youth really own this country.

People who speak different languages, they are watching the movie from our language. So, I think all of us should be proud as nation and as cinema lovers.

I'm a patriot, but I'm also a European. I think the two go together.

A national festival is an occasion to refine and rebuild the national character.

The romance of English football is fantastic, but it has lost its identity under the influence of other cultures.

We are not quitters. Britain has always gone out there; we have probably been more influential than any other country in shaping our world and the way it has thought about itself, the way we interact as nations.

We are world leaders, and we need to act like it.

When I was a kid in my neighborhood, there was nobody that supported Belgium. It was impossible and unthinkable because there was nothing they could relate to.

It's a cliche that cricket is the only unifying force in the Caribbean. It is but there are a lot of other factors that keep us apart. Success in sport and war will always unite but you need to have a greater foundation and greater core.

If there is cultural imperialism, it is definitely American.

I grew up watching American films, listening to American music, and it's a big contribution to the rest of the world. I mean, American jazz, for me, is the best thing culturally that America has produced.

From jazz, the blues, country and rock to Hollywood movies, culture has in many ways been our greatest export (or our most obnoxious one, depending on your point of view).

They're strange, the Aussies. Because if they like you, they say, 'Oh, he's an Aussie.' And I keep saying, 'I'm not, I'm from Preston.' There's nothing Australian about me. Don't start claiming me just because I've got a job over here.

I made the decision to play for Germany because this country gave me something and helped me during my youth.