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

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• 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

  26 Copy quote

• 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

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• 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."

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• 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.

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

  Mohsin Hamid

  Childhood, Stories, Refugee

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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  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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Migration is a feature of globalisation. You can’t stop it; so every time a political party says it is going to be tough on immigration, it fails to deliver and loses trust.

  Margaret Hodge

  Party, Political, Immigration

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• I think massive migration is inevitable. As sea levels rise, as climate change happens, as fertile fields become arid, as wars are fought, people are going to move. They always have.

  Mohsin Hamid

  War, Moving, Thinking

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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

  Carlos Fuentes

  Diversity, Like You

  64 Copy quote

• 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

  93 Copy quote

• Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.

  John F. Kennedy

  Fabric, Migrants, American Life

  President John F. Kennedy (2016). “A Nation Of Immigrants”, p.11, Pickle Partners Publishing

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

  Ronald Reagan

  Borders, Nations, Nationalism

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• 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.

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• Actually what is happening in the twenty-first century, this is the great century of migration, so we have people from all around the globe going all over the place, and they have to integrate into a society, that society that exists has to integrate with them. Both sides have to work at it. It's not a one-way thing.

  Roma Tearne

  People, Twenties, Way

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• 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

  62 Copy quote

• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• We have a Conservative leader that believes in green taxes, that won't bring back grammar schools, that believes in continuing with total open-door migration from eastern Europe and refuses to give us a referendum on the EU.

  Nigel Farage

  Believe, School, Doors

  "Conservative right calls for return to core values and end to 'barmy' policies" by Nicholas Watt, www.theguardian.com. May 4, 2012.

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• The whole story of migration and what that has done in interconnecting the planet is obviously something I've written about a lot.

  Salman Rushdie

  Stories, Done, Planets

  55 Copy quote

• 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

  53 Copy quote