Backgrounds Quotes

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  It's not even about black and white anymore, because so many people are from mixed backgrounds and mixed ethnicities, and it's just a great time to be able to pull all that together.

  George Lopez

  Black And White, Ethnicity, People

  "George Lopez enters the talk show wars". Interview with Todd Leopold, www.cnn.com. March 30, 2009.

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• I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth. I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish.

  Marcel Marceau

  Destiny, Men, Light

  Wall Street Journal, November 19, 1965.

  63 Copy quote

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• My father was the son of immigrants, and he grew up bilingual, but English is what my father taught me and what he spoke to me. America's strength is not our diversity; it is our ability to unite around common principles even when we come from different backgrounds.

  Ernest Istook

  Father, Son, America

  16 Copy quote

• We had people of all backgrounds coming together - all races, all creeds, all colors, all status in life. And coming together there was a kind of quiet dignity and a kind of sense of caring and a feeling of joint responsibility.

  Dorothy Height

  Responsibility, Caring, Race

  82 Copy quote

• I really want to do the unexpected, and I think that's what I did when I executed 'Long.Live.A$AP.' I wanted people to really see the message and that I'm an artist who not only has the capability of rapping, but of composing great music both for people of my generation and for people with different backgrounds.

  ASAP Rocky

  Rap, Artist, Thinking

  26 Copy quote

• Barbara did the selecting, and that's probably the most brilliant thing, was she put together a group of women, different backgrounds, different experiences.

  Star Jones

  Different Experiences, Together, Groups

  "CNN Live Today" with Larry King, edition.cnn.com. June 30, 2006.

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• It's really important to say this. Often the faith schools were founded before the state provided education. I want good education in this country so I'm not going to slag off faith schools. I think that it's important that people of different backgrounds and different faiths go to school together and many faith schools do that.

  Ed Miliband

  Country, School, Thinking

  16 Copy quote

• Democracy does not require perfect equality, but it does require that citizens share a common life. What matters is that people of different backgrounds and social positions encounter one another, and bump up against one another, in the course of ordinary life.

  Michael Sandel

  What Matters, Perfect, People

  "What Money Can't Buy by Michael Sandel - review" by John Lanchester, www.theguardian.com. May 17, 2012.

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• For too long, we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together.

  Bob Riley

  Pride, Race, Differences

  17 Copy quote

• However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

  J. K. Rowling

  College, Views, Imagination

  16 Copy quote

• Bias has to be taught. If you hear your parents downgrading women or people of different backgrounds, why, you are going to do that.

  Barbara Bush

  Women, People, Parent

  34 Copy quote

• No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

  Nelson Mandela

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  FaceBook post by Nelson Mandela from Nov 04, 2014

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• I definitely have had friendships and moments with people from different backgrounds and in different stages of their lives.

  Sofia Coppola

  People, Different, Moments

  "I don't like being told what to do", www.theguardian.com. October 13, 2003.

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• My parents were both from extremely different backgrounds. My father's Italian, my mother was of Swedish descent. They're both first-generation Americans.

  Susan Lucci

  Mother, Father, Italian

  8 Copy quote

• America's strength is not our diversity; our strength is our ability to unite people of different backgrounds around common principles. A common language is necessary to reach that goal.

  Ernest Istook

  America, People, Diversity

  7 Copy quote

• If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  Life, Religion, Trying

  H. P. Lovecraft (2010). “Against Religion: The Atheist Writings of H.P. Lovecraft”, p.41, Lulu.com

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• My job is to play many different roles with all sorts of different backgrounds and orientations.

  Josh Charles

  Jobs, Play, Different

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations.

  Lakhdar Brahimi

  Respect, Moving, Ideas

  12 Copy quote

• I just get so fed up with seeing the same things written about me. If I see the words 'ice queen' attached to me, I feel like banging my head against the wall. There's this perception that I can only be in a film if I have a glass of champagne in my hand and a stately home in the background.

  Kristin Scott Thomas

  Queens, Wall, Home

  7 Copy quote

• People prefer to be with people like themselves. For all the celebration of "diversity," it's sameness that dominates. Most people favor friendships with those who share similar backgrounds, interests and values. It makes for more shared experiences, easier conversations and more comfortable silences. Despite many exceptions, the urge is nearly universal. It's human nature.

  Robert J. Samuelson

  People, Diversity, Silence

  "A Tyranny of True Believers" by Robert Samuelson, www.realclearpolitics.com. August 6, 2008.

  8 Copy quote

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• We may have different backgrounds, but we believe in the same dream that says this is a country where anything's possible. No matter who you are. No matter where you come from.

  Barack Obama

  Inspiring, Dream, Country

  Second Presidential State of the Union Address, delivered 25 January 2011, Washington, D.C.

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• As the books grew bigger and more ambitious, the situations in question sometimes became political ones, and so it became necessary to start painting in the social background on a scale which eventually became panoramic.

  Jonathan Coe

  Book, Political, Ambitious

  7 Copy quote

• There are days we live
  as if death were nowhere
  in the background; from joy
  to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
  from blossom to blossom to
  impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

  Li-Young Lee

  Sweet, Wings, Joy

  Li-Young Lee (1986). “Rose: Poems”, p.21, BOA Editions, Ltd.

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• ..I think there is less cynicism about human rights than there was. The work we are doing is part of the overall pattern of human development, whatever the political system, whatever the country, whatever the cultural background, whatever the religion.

  Martin Ennals

  Country, Thinking, Rights

  8 Copy quote