Shashi Tharoor Quotes

If we can't understand the Afghan family, we can't understand Afghanistan.

I'm always trying to be a good ambassador for my country.

My mum and dad were speaking all the time about, 'In Sudan we do this,' and 'In Egypt we do that,' so I was very aware of cultural differences. I was confused growing up; it gave me a feeling of being an outsider watching others. But I think this is good for a writer.

The beginning of Canadian cultural nationalism was not 'Am I really that oppressed?' but 'Am I really that boring?'

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

This sort of thing may be tolerated by the French, but we are British, thank God.

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

Travelers never think that they are the foreigners

There's a kind of integrity to being an observer of a culture. I think Canadians have that privilege innately. We are, like, the observers of the American culture.

When I came to India, it's just a different country, but the culture was same that I grew up in.

But what I'm very interested in, whether it's writing, whether it's hosting a show, whether it's cooking food, I'm just into the discussions of identity, culture and the politics of culture.

At the beginning of my career as a writer, I felt I knew nothing of Chinese culture. I was writing about emotional confusion with my mother related to our different beliefs. Hers was based in family history, which I didn't know anything about. I always felt hesitant in talking about Chinese culture and American culture.

Let us not suffer from a national amnesia that causes us to forget who and what we are.

Although I'm Australian, I find myself much more in sympathy with the Austrian version!

I have made more friends for American culture than the State Department. Certainly I have made fewer enemies, but that isn't very difficult.

I don't feel like I have to be nationalistic French because I'm afraid of losing whatever. No, no, no, no. And also I don't think we are the best.

It's fascinating when you're from another place, but you don't speak the language.

It is a most disgraceful shame the way in which Irishmen are brought up. They are ashamed of their language, institutions, and of everything Irish.

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.

Living in different cultures helped me work out who I was going to be, separate from where I came from.

I haven't met everyone from all different cultures, but I do know Aussies are very tough.

In the end, a new Americanization movement can't just be about listing our privileges and immunities, which we catalog in our laws. It also has to be about reinforcing our duties, which we convey in our habits.

Black culture is something I don't relate to much at all.

The cultural decoding that many American writers require has become an even harder task in the age of globalisation. The experience they describe has grown more private; its essential background, the busy larger world, has receded.

We must teach our people the greatness of China's historical culture. In our educational program we must stress Chinese history and geography so that all may know and appreciate China's civilization of five thousand years and the far-flung boundaries of our ancient race. This will engender a greater faith in our own future.