Migration Quotes

• Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future. It is part of the social fabric, part of our very make-up as a human family

  Ban Ki-moon

  Expression, Safety, Fabric

  109 Copy quote

• We cannot and should not stop people from migration. We have to give them a better life at home. Migration is a process, not a problem.

  William L. Swing

  Inspiring, Home, People

  16 Copy quote

• Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Xenophobia, Patriotic, Usa

  Remarks before Daughters of the American Revolution Convention, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr. 1938. Often paraphrased as Roosevelt's addressing the DAR as "my fellow immigrants."

  353 Copy quote

  Show source

• History in its broadest aspect is a record of man's migrations from one environment to another.

  Ellsworth Huntington

  Science, Men, History

  Ellsworth Huntington (2016). “A Chronicle of Aboriginal America: Juvenile History - - American”, p.2, VM eBooks

  90 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

  George Washington

  Land, America, Atheism

  George Washington, Stephen Lucas (1999). “The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot”, p.5, Rowman & Littlefield

  213 Copy quote

  Show source

• We must force the government to stop the bird migration. We must shoot all birds, field all our men and troops... and force migratory birds to stay where they are.

  Vladimir Zhirinovsky

  Men, Bird, Troops

  88 Copy quote

• Migration has been politicized before it has been analyzed.

  Paul Collier

  Has Beens

  Paul Collier (2013). “Exodus: How Migration is Changing Our World”, p.12, Oxford University Press, USA

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• We can't deter people fleeing for their lives. They will come. The choice we have is how well we manage their arrival, and how humanely.

  Antonio Guterres

  People, Choices, Humanity

  "U.N. Refugee Chief: Europe's Response to Mediterranean Crisis Is 'Lagging Far Behind'". time.com. April 23, 2015.

  65 Copy quote

  Show source

• Although mountains may guide migrations, the plains are the regions where people dwell in greatest numbers.

  Ellsworth Huntington

  Numbers, People, House

  Ellsworth Huntington (2016). “A Chronicle of Aboriginal America: Juvenile History - - American”, p.20, VM eBooks

  71 Copy quote

  Show source

• All human stories are migration stories because everyone is a refugee from their own childhood.

  Mohsin Hamid

  Childhood, Stories, Refugee

  Source: www.motherjones.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Migration - whether emigration or return - at the micro level is an individual choice, and government both at the Centre and the states have role only to facilitate the decision of the individuals.

  Vayalar Ravi

  Government, Individual Choice, Decision

  58 Copy quote

• I'm a big believer that as much as possible, and there's obviously political limitations, freedom of migration is a good thing.

  Bill Gates

  Success, Political, Investing

  "Bill Gates backs immigration reform on Mexico trip". www.reuters.com. March 21, 2007.

  2 Copy quote

  Show source

• The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Land, Immigration, Culture

  Johnson, Lyndon B. (1967). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966”, p.1039, Best Books on

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• Electronic aids, particularly domestic computers, will help the inner migration, the opting out of reality. Reality is no longer going to be the stuff out there, but the stuff inside your head. It's going to be commercial and nasty at the same time.

  J. G. Ballard

  Reality, Stuff, Helping

  Heavy Metal Interview, April 1982.

  85 Copy quote

  Show source

• From the early days of European migration to America, in the 17th Century, the prototype of buildings was based on English precedent, even if mostly translated into the locally available material in abundance: timber.

  Harry Seidler

  America, Abundance, Building

  85 Copy quote

• Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.

  Carlos Fuentes

  Diversity, Like You

  55 Copy quote

• Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

  Emma Lazarus

  Tired, Civilization, Urbanization

  "The New Colossus" l. 10 (1883).

  57 Copy quote

  Show source

• People come here penniless but not cultureless. They bring us gifts. We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs. We can teach and learn from each other to produce a better America.

  Mary Pipher

  America, People, Immigration

  Mary Pipher (2003). “The Middle of Everywhere”, p.371, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• What I love about the stories of the Great Migration is that this is not ancient history; this is living history. Most people of color can find someone in their own family who had experienced a migration of some kind, knowing the sense of dislocation, longing and fortitude.

  Isabel Wilkerson

  Color, Knowing, People

  48 Copy quote

• History shows that it is not only senseless and cruel, but also difficult to state who is a foreigner.

  Claudio Magris

  States, Danube, Difficult

  Claudio Magris (2001). “Danube”, Vintage

  41 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Patriotic, Years

  Theodore Roosevelt (1921). “Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials”

  118 Copy quote

  Show source

• If our goal is to slow migration, then the best way to do so is to work for a more equitable global system. But slowing migration is an odd goal, if the real problem is global inequality.

  Aviva Chomsky

  Real, Goal, Way

  53 Copy quote

• Facebook's successor will no doubt provide an easy "migration utility" through which you can bring all your so-called friends with you, if you even want to.

  Douglas Rushkoff

  Doubt, Want, Easy

  "Facebook hype will fade" by Douglas Rushkoff, www.cnn.com. January 7, 2011.

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.

  Ronald Reagan

  Borders, Nations, Nationalism

  549 Copy quote

• Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.

  Junot Diaz

  Memories, Giving, Monsters

  54 Copy quote