Emil Cioran Quotes

One doesn't live in a country, one lives in a language.

When you move a border, suddenly life changes violently. I write about nationality.

It's a complicated issue, but I define myself as an American, primarily.

Nationality is a thing like a church or a secret society; it is a product of the human soul and will; it is a spiritual product.

Nationalism is spiritual and all-embracing, in the sense that it opens its arms to and spreads its wings over all those who have shared with the Arabs their history and have lived in the environment of their language and culture for generations, so that they have become Arab in thought and feeling. There is no fear that nationalism will clash with religion, for, like religion, it flows from the heart and issues from the will of God; they walk arm in arm, supporting each other, especially when religion represents the genius of the nationality and is in harmony with its nature.

A nation is not a linguistic unit. The English-speaking peoples, whether under the Union Jack or not, are, with one exception, not English; neither are the German-speaking Swiss and Austrians German, nor the French-speaking Swiss and Belgians and Canadians French.

It was very hard for me, for most of my life, to feel American, or call myself American, and that is a very complicated topic that would require a very long conversation.

Who does get to claim Americanness? You know, my brother was born in this country. And is he seen as American? So, I mean, it brings up a lot of interesting questions.

We have to redefine what we mean when we say, 'Who are your people?' 'Where are you from?'

I'm American by birth, but I consider myself Canadian.

Sting and I need to think what our relationship is to England in the long term.

I always say I have a Danish passport, but I am a New Yorker at heart.

Well, I'm Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it's my name.

Being Indian is not blood as much as it is culture.

You carry your country with you, it's part of your baggage.

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.

Maybe I am not French, maybe I am from nowhere.

When Bangladesh refused to renew my passport, I used U.N. travel documents. You can't disown your country.

I've never felt British. I'm just not interested in national identity. I don't know why.

It's very important to me that people see I am an American and I was born in the States.

A Country is not a mere territory; the particular territory is only its foundation. The Country is the idea which rises upon that foundation; it is the sentiment of love, the sense of fellowship which binds together all the sons of that territory.

English is my second language, but in Hong Kong, they don't know that I'm from China. They think I'm from Hollywood because all the films they see are from here. China and Hong Kong are very different places, but they're starting to merge. Still the culture is very different.

I really do feel part of America to my very bones; at the same time, I know that I come from somewhere else.

If you move to Canada, after a few years you call yourself Canadian. In Germany, it's difficult to belong.

I'm Colombian and nothing will change that.