Ismail Merchant Quotes

I remember when I was young, many cities in the Muslim world were cosmopolitan cities with a lot of culture.

Multilingualism in our nation extends back to several millennia. This multilingualism is an asset, a heritage we have inherited, and is, in fact, a resource we deeply cherish.

Today, in Mexico, they speak 65 languages, counting the indigenous languages, 65. It is a people of great faith. They have also suffered religious persecution.

To rescue from oblivion even a fragment of a language which men have used and which is in danger of being lost -that is to say, one of the elements, whether good or bad, which have shaped and complicated civilization -is to extend the scope of social observation and to serve civilization.

I'm a passionate Welshman. I have a culinary relationship with language: I taste what I say because I have two languages, and each informs the other.

When I was very young, my background as a Sikh-American made me aware of the tensions that underlie choice.

A collection that embraces the whole world allows you to consider the whole world. That is what an institution such as the British Museum is for.

In antiquity, there were three regions in southern Europe: Greece, Rome, and Ilyria. Albanian is the only survivor of the Ilyrian languages. That is why it has always intrigued the great linguists of the past.

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.

Hindi is my mother tongue. Even though I do not get to use it as often, it's still a part of me.

The places I come from have such rich languages, such a variety of expression. In Sierra Leone we have about fifteen languages and three dialects. I grew up speaking about seven of them.

Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in the English language in Ireland knows that there's the dead ghost of Gaelic in the language we use and listen to and that those things will reflect our Irish identity.

To be in Florence is to reflect on Europe's intricate diversity - and its lost creativity.

I have a high regard for Native languages and the pivotal role they have played in our nation's history.

Religious symbols should be visible in public space, in a dignified and non-provocative manner. Christmas trees here, Jewish menorahs there and, further along, a minaret - these symbols represent human life in all its diversity.

If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa or Europe. They may be Mohammetans [Moslems] Jews or Christians or any Sect–or they may be Atheists.

It is asked of me that I give my first speech in this house in a language [English] other than my mother tongue [French.] …. Even if I knew English as intimately as I knew French, I would still give my first speech in the language of my French Canadian compatriots

Ours is a vast country, many languages, many castes, creeds, religions.

I'm a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims.

Enshrined in a language is the whole of a community's history and a large part of its cultural identity. The world is a mosaic of visions. To lose even one piece of this mosaic is a loss for all of us.

I felt it was a privilege that I came from such a rich background. I had the best of both worlds. My mother was a Shia Muslim, while my father was a janoi-clad man. He never pretended to be secular.

India is a conglomeration of different states with various languages, tradition, and culture for each.

Latinos are learning English. That doesn't mean that they should sacrifice their original language or that they should give up this in-betweeness that is Spanglish.

I think it's about the feeling more than a language. And I think that we and every culture in the world has to keep their own language just to bring something else, something different, and show a different vision of the world, actually. And that's why I'm trying to keep my language.

Secularism is intact because of Hindus.