Edoardo Ponti Quotes

Being married to a daughter of India is a natural complement of my being in this country for 30 years. My roots are very much in this country, even though I remain a Westerner.

I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I'm English.

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

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

I am not an African. I am an American.

There's a big difference between race and culture. Because racially, I'm an Indian man. Culturally, not at all.

What about a white South African who comes here from Africa. Is he an African American?

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.

I don't consider myself an Iranian comedian; I consider myself a comedian who happens to be of Iranian descent.

Nobody's American," said Wednesday. "Not originally. That's my point.

No, my family is Russian, Georgian, via Ellis Island.

One of the unique features of China is that, notwithstanding the fact that it has a population of 1.3 billion, around 92% regard themselves as Han Chinese. This is quite different from the world's other most populous countries, such as India, the U.S. and Indonesia, which are ethnically diverse.

I am not only a Parsi, I am a Kashmiri too.

I grow up in the States, in Miami, but I was born in Guatemala, and my father's Cuban, and in 'Body of Lies,' I played an Iraqi.

I'm three quarters Scottish, but I sound English. I don't really see British as a race.

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.

Irish Americans are no more Irish than Black Americans are Africans.

I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover.

I come from an immigrant family, but I know no other nationality apart from British.

Rather than be asked to abandon one's own heritage and to adapt to the mores of the new country, one was expected to possess a treasure of foreign skills and customs that would enrich the resources of American living.

The film 'Documented,' a project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Define American campaign, is about my families: the family I was blessed to be born into, and the family of friends, mentors and allies that I found when I moved to the United States at 12, a Filipino kid trying to make sense of my new home in America.

I was born in America, but I consider myself a Filipino.

I'm married to an American, so I guess that has changed my perspective on the subjects I can write about.

It's a project that touched me as an immigrant and as a New Yorker.

Writers, especially those of us with roots in other countries, are rarely left to ourselves. We are asked to declare our allegiances, or they are determined for us.