Tom Robbins Quotes

The truth of who we are is that we are because we belong.

We all need a firm sense of identity.

Growing up in Wales, there was a lot of fervour about being Welsh. But the more that I travelled, I realised that people aren't always interested in where you're from, but who you are.

We're all different; we all have our ways of understanding ourselves and the way we live our lives and struggle with our humanity.

Every people is a chosen people in its own mind. And it is rather amusing that their name for themselves usually means mankind.

Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong.

I think people will become more and more aware that we are all more than we seem.

I've got a wonky nose. Is it classical, is it not? That's what's hard work, getting down into the nitty-gritty of who are the human beings behind the front of what they present?

I love my heritage!

The obsessions we have are pretty much the same our whole lives. Mine are people, the human condition, life.

I'll always be Chinese first. It probably isn't politically correct to say or something that the majority understands; I can change my shoes, I can swap my passport, but, I'll always have this face.

What I am is a thinking, feeling human being compelled by history.

Where you grew up becomes a big part of who you are for the rest of your life. You can't run away from that. Well, sometimes the running away from it is what makes you who you are.

One isn't born one's self. One is born with a mass of expectations, a mass of other people's ideas - and you have to work through it all.

I'm slowly feeling more Chinese and feel I should be more proud of being Chinese and appreciate where I've come from.

I'm not crazy. But I am different. I'm still learning about myself.

I've known where my heritage is from all along.

It's strange; when I was younger and people would ask, 'Where are you from?', I'd say, 'West Africa', which was odd because I'm obviously not African, but it was my home.

I want to clear this once and for all. I was born in Hong Kong. I grew up in Japan and China. London is not home for me. I was there only for three years before I moved to India, but that's probably why I am connected with it. London is definitely not the place I consider my home. It's India that I consider home.

I don't believe complete assimilation is possible, at least not for anyone who has an active, open mind. Every step, every entry into the flows of existence can be seen as a beginning, a commencement of a brand new way of seeing oneself in the world. This is the case for everyone.

I feel at home in a lot of places, but I am truly an African-American.

I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.

You know, our sense of individuality is just the number one target of civilization.

I don't think we spend enough time in reflection and introspection. We don't know who we are as individuals in this culture anymore.

The fact is that all of us have only one personality, and we wring it out like a dishtowel. You are what you are.