Gerald R. Ford Quotes

I am Michael, and I am part English, Irish, German, and Scottish, sort of a virtual United Nations.

I'll be a Quebecker-Canadian. I'm from Quebec, and every time I go to a country, I say that. It's my roots, my origins, and it's the most important thing to me.

Being an American is a state of mind, and to be in a family is to feel the power of belonging, the power of your roots. Family is a tree, the strength of a tree, the roots, the leaves, the past and the present, the future, the fruits, the seeds.

I feel like our history and our roots make us who we are.

I think the knowledge of where you come from gives you more of an affinity for understanding different cultures and learning.

We should not ignore or isolate our roots, no matter where we stay.

Let's treasure our roots, even when we're far away.

My mother was from West Bromwich; my grandfather was Pakistani. I had an aunt who started trying to trace the family tree and stopped when she saw what turned up.

It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.

I'm certainly proud to be Cuban American, and it's a fantastic opportunity for anybody - regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. It does carry a measure or pride to know where you're from and to know what your roots are.

I always knew who I was and where I had come from. I was not looking for a home in other people's lands.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

You can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself.

You can't run from your roots.

It's very strange that most people don't care if their knowledge of their family history only goes back three generations.

You gotta understand, my great-grandfather was German and Irish. My grandmother was Indian, and my grandfather was African-American, so we all got a little something in us.

For a while, I thought a lot about lineage. Where do I belong? Who am I standing next to?

I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side - a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles - Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.

It's always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you're going.

I'll never forget where I'm from, never forget my roots. It doesn't matter where I live. I'm English, simple as that.

I represent New York, I represent the Bronx, I represent the Dominican Republic. And I always have that in mind with everything that I do.

You never realise how much of your background is sewn into the lining of your clothes.

Everybody came from somewhere here in New York.

It is impossible to say with any certainty to which human race we belong. We all differ visibly in the color of our skin.

When we were children, we were told that we have a motherland, and that motherland was Spain. However, we have discovered later, in our lives, that as a matter of fact, we have several motherlands. And one of the greatest motherlands of all is, no doubt, Africa.