Immigrant Quotes

“The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

“You’re here, supposedly, in a new land full of opportunity, but somehow have gotten trapped in a pretend version of the old country.”
― Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown

“And as any mixed-race person will tell you—to be half of two things is to be whole of nothing.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“Poor Father, I see his final exploration. He arrives at the new place, his hair risen in astonishment, his mouth and eyes dumb. His toe scuffs a soft storm of sand, he kneels and his arms spread in pantomimic celebration, the immigrant, as in every moment of his life, arriving eternally on the shore of his Self.”
― E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime

“I was seen—I who had seldom been seen by anyone. I who was taught, by you, to be invisible in order to be safe.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Am I then more of an American than those who drew their first breath on American Ground?”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Essential Hamilton: Letters & Other Writings: A Library of America Special Publication

“I realized that a new phase of exile was beginning, that from now on there would be other periods, all different, each with its own anxieties, all shattering and overwhelming, and that I would be changing too, passing from one crisis to the next until I reached the moment of truth, unique and definitive — the day on which I would either stop being an exile and return home, or unavoidably, with sadness and resignation, become an immigrant.”
― Fernando Alegria

“It was ironic, really, that the only reason I became eligible to adjust my status was because I married a U.S. citizen. I laugh when I think about the many times my mom told me, 'You have to be independent. You have to make your own money. Don't depend on a man!' I did. I made my own money. But I still needed a man to save me from my illegality.”
― Julissa Arce, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation

“You are either a resident or an immigrant. Only, a resident is an immigrant further along in the transition.”
― Daksh Tyagi, Signs of Life

“What look?', I would ask. That look that I owe you something. That I've wronged you in some way. A pessimist. A constant speculator. Had she'd known what American was like, she might not have immigrated.”
― Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay

“On November 26, 2003, nine months after my mother died, you gave birth to Max, a little boy with an American name, a little boy I didn’t think we could handle and had said maybe we should consider not having, a little boy who looked up at me with almond eyes, who smiled my smile. Max was a surprise. Nearly nine years after our youngest daughter had been born, long after we said we were done having children, long after I had tried my hand at being a father to a son and was beginning to feel I had failed, out of the blue, cloudless sky a little boy traveled into our life on the wings of my mother’s death. In 2003, I realized I had never written you a love song.”
― Kao Kalia Yang, The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father

“It is good to remember that the original woman was herself an immigrant. She fell a long way from her home in the Skyward, leaving behind all who knew her and held her dear. She could never go back.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

“Knowing her grandchildren would inherit the world she left behind, she did not work for flourishing in her time only. It was through her actions of reciprocity, the give and take with the land, that the original immigrant became Indigenous. For all of us, becoming Indigenous to a place means living as if your children's future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

“Ask not, where you begin!
Ask instead, where you belong!
Belonging is the beginning,
Where you belong, there you're born.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“If you are not indigenous, you are an immigrant.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Know this: You are our future. And knowing and protecting the past will help you create that future.”
― Berta de Miguel, Immigrant Architect: Rafael Guastavino and the American Dream

“I'm the unwanted, the unknown face,
the wandering ignored past,
the mysterious façade that has been
alter throughout mirrors and centuries;
whose voice impress or discomforts
those who belong in the other side.”
― Elvis Dino Esquivel

“An immigrant? An immigrant feels like when you go to the movies and you get there late. You can’t see, and the people are not happy you’re there. The movie has already started, and you missed parts. You have a lot of catching up to do if you’re going to get it, and you need to find your place in the dark without stepping on people. Then, if you find your place, shut up and pay attention; you might get what the movie is all about.”
― Amarilys Gacio Rassler, Cuban American Dancing On The Hyphen

“The Dark Cloud
Is the sweater that is like a community that is tightly knit
Is the zero respect that you have for bureaucratic bullshit
Is the number of times you became annoyed with investment banking
Is the intellect of an immigrant that gets bulldozed over because of social ranking”
― Aida Mandic, The Dark Cloud

“The Dark Cloud
Is the weaving of words that is ignored but leaves you stunned
Is the attitude of professors that don’t care unless you have a huge trust fund
Is the disgust you feel towards sexism, racism, and ageism
Is the hatred of a country that has fierce nationalism and chauvinism”
― Aida Mandic, The Dark Cloud

“Better abandon citizenship than abandon your dream.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“A civilized world is not where everybody flocks to another nation to fulfill their dream, but where everybody can pursue their dream without feeling the need to become an immigrant.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Who needs smoke machines and stick-figure flags when you can have a straightforward visa application.”
― Dipti Dhakul

“If you run away without looking back when you see a danger, you will only save yourself, not your honour! The same thing will happen if you run away when there are dangerous developments in your country!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Waarom hield zij eigenlijk niet zo van haar moederland? Nederland was toch meer haar vaderland, al durfde ze dat thuis nooit hardop te zeggen. Ze sprak beter Nederlands dan Turks, maakte zoiets uit voor het land dat je je vaderland noemde? Was de taal die je het beste sprak de taal van je vaderland, ook al lag het land van je ouders in een ander werelddeel?”
― Karin Hilterman, Meryem

“Die eerste avond in bed vroeg ze zich af waarom ze ook alweer zo naar Nederland verlangde. Het was er koud, er waren geen leuke brieven en de buren hadden hen niet verwelkomd. Er leek niets leuk aan Nederland.”
― Karin Hilterman, Meryem

“On earth we are immigrants from Africa - out in space we'd be immigrants from Earth - in a different galaxy, we'd be immigrants from Milkyway. To put simply, in exploration of space, both external and internal, terms like immigrant and indigenous are meaningless. It's the heart that makes us indigenous or immigrant, not blood.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Better a refugee than prisoner
(Sonnet 1555)

Eon upon eon I seek for a refuge,
Land upon land I receive but coldness.
Last I stand at your door exhausted,
Spare some warmth, for my heart freezes!

Stateless, cultless, I walk the planet.
Restless, sleepless, I live a dream.
Friendless, loveless, I brave the mission.
The being is dissolved for the beacon to beam.

Wield, I do, my conscience as compass.
Wear, I do, my backbone as battery.
Bouts of tragedy only amplifies my thunder,
Nature's bare mockery makes miracle of me.

Borders are for hoarders, my home is the world.
Better a refugee to the sea than prisoner of the pond.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Better a refugee to the sea than prisoner of the pond.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Better a refugee than prisoner.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets