Amar Nath Dutt Quotes

We must be aware of the superiority of our civilization.

There will be no room, here, for the smug myopia which views American civilization as the final solution to all world problems; which recommends our institutions for universal adoption and turns away with contempt from the serious study of the institutions of peoples whose civilizations may seem to us to be materially less advanced.

Others think their American ways will work in other countries. That's not always accurate and can be disrespectful to the local culture.

We are yet to have a conscience at all about the exploitation of human cultures.

Secularism is the experience of the Western culture and thought. Insisting on spreading it to places where the underlying intellectual background, and the political and social reasons for its appearance are lacking, is clearly a mistake, regardless of being desirable or not.

Believing in each culture's right to be understood by the other party without any form of falseness or distortion is paramount.

When you start exporting ideas, philosophy, behavior, products, ways of living, it becomes an assault on the culture. Americans have to understand that.

It is not Americans right to impose their values upon us.

Modern man is prompt to prevent cruelty to animals, and sometimes even to humans, but no counterpart of the Humane Society or the Sierra Club exists to prevent cruelty to entire cultures.

It isn't pleasant to surrender to the hegemony of a nation which is still wild and primitive, and to concede the absolute superiority of its customs and institutions, science and technology, literature and art. Must one sacrifice so much in the name of the unity of mankind?

Some things are really sacred and important to other cultures, so you have to be aware, politically, about those things before you just adopt them.

Wherever you go, respect the local culture or you will suffer.

If people can't acknowledge the wisdom of indigenous cultures, then that's their loss.

Africa doesn't leap on you immediately; it seeps slowly, and it's incredibly important to be respectful and humble there.

The domination of western values, beliefs and way of life has angered many from the east and in developing countries.

No one is helped when cultural critics use their voices irresponsibly.

Some Indians will come up and say that a story reminded them of something very specific to their experience. Which may or may not be the case for non-Indians.

I say the same thing that I've said for decades now, which is: don't go over to Japan trying to change it, thinking that you know better. Go there trying to understand.

Britons are good, though often brutal, colonists where they come into relations with entirely uncivilized tribes whose past is so remote as to be forgotten. But they trample with their heavy boots over the sensitive, delicate susceptibilities of an ancient, highly civilized and cultured nation, such as India.

While we can learn from U.S. models, we certainly can't practice them.

It's difficult sometimes when you have somebody who is of a different culture trying to make light of something that is maybe not quite something that they understand.

I don't think anyone could write about another culture and get it 100 percent accurate.

We have to allow ourselves the freedom to make mistakes, including cultural mistakes, in our first drafts. I believe it's okay to get cultural details wrong in your first draft. It's okay if stereotypes emerge. It just means that your experience is limited, that you're human.

I've been to Africa three times. All right? You can't bring Western reasoning into the culture. The same way you can't bring it into fundamental Islam.

You know, you're living in a society where if you say something that you might think may be OK, when it's more sensitive to that particular culture. You have to be very, very careful.